Pure Magic
by WindSweptWillow
Summary: Hikari had it rough, she was trying to save a dying island and improve her sad excuse for a farm all on her own with only her cheery companion Finn for help. She spent all her time searching for bells and trying to manage her expenses, there wasn't anytime for much else in her busy stressful life. Then she met the Wizard and she found her troubles were about to increase.
1. Chapter 1

_His words are few but precious,… his smiles are small but brilliant,…. and when his steady gaze that seems to be able to unravel even the mysteries of the stars a last turns to me, I feel that those eyes have seen all my secrets…. He's pure magic; my wizard…_

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

"It's a new day Hikari!" a bright and cheerful voice called out to me, threatening to break the thin barrier of sleep that was allowing my peaceful dreams to continue.

I rolled over and attempted to nestle deeper into the covers hoping to drift further into sleep. If only that irritating hum of what sounded almost like insect wings wasn't zipping around my head. I waved my hand dismissively above my head hoping to bat the annoying creature away from my ear but my hand met only empty air and the humming continued.

"Come on sleepy head!" the bright voice called out again, "There lots of work to do and the day isn't going to wait up for you."

It was no use I was starting to wake up now, that cheery little voice was causing my dreams to flee, like a sun chases out shadow with the morning light. I sat up groggily looking vacantly straight out in front of me. The humming that I was now awake enough to recognize was to my left.

"Do we really have to start the day so early?" I groaned turning to my tiny companion, "Nobody else on the island is up yet."

The tiny sprite hovering in the air next to my bed shook his head disapprovingly, "You're never going to be able to save the island with that attitude Hikari." He chided lightly, "You have to keep at it and give your best every day right?"

I stared at the warm and encouraging smile of my little friend and wondered with some disgust how _anyone_ could be so cheery so very early in the morning. He was as sensitive as a child though and not wanting to hurt his feelings I struggled to keep my face vacant of any surly expression. It was too much to expect a smile before my morning coffee.

"Alright Finn you win," I said with a yawn, "I'm up, just let me get some caffeine in my system first okay?" I said stumbling over to my refrigerator. My house was small so the kitchen was only a few steps from the bed, actually everything was only a few steps from everything in this one room cubby hole I called a house. I didn't particularly mind though, with just me and Finn here one large room was more than enough to make a home. There was a bathroom but no proper tub, I had never been so happy as the day Finn and I had managed to restore the red bell and the hot springs behind my house became useable again. I must have lived in that thing the first few days, that is until I realized that just about anybody could wander up and see me disrobed at anytime. I used the hot springs much more sparingly after that.

I pulled out some coffee beans, ground them up and brewed myself a fresh cup of coffee. Holding the cup up to my face I took a moment to take in the rich and glorious aroma before allowing myself to sip the precious liquid. I swallowed and let out a soft and contented sigh. Finn zipped over and sniffed at the beverage curiously crinkling his face slightly as he did so. I had to laugh, Finn really was like a child in so many ways and the bitter taste of coffee didn't suite him much at all. He once had a sip from my cup and I thought the stuff would kill the little guy his reaction was so strong.

"I don't get what it is about this stuff that you like so much." Finn said sitting himself onto my shoulder his cheery little voice speaking right into my ear. "But you always seem a lot happier after you've had some."

After I finished the contents of my mug it was off to work with me, I gathered up my tools for the day, double checked my calendar to be sure there wasn't something I was forgetting and stepped out into the weak morning light. I sighed as I looked over the pathetic condition of my crops. I had rung the yellow bell only a week ago, Ruth's ridiculous shipment request took some time to accomplish. She seemed like a nice lady and all when you were buying seeds and produce from her shop but that woman could be pretty shrewd when she wanted to be. Still a week wasn't long enough to feel the effects of the yellow bell and Collin's revival and so my crops were still suffering from the barren and infertile soil in which I had raised them.

"No matter how many times I look at it, it's still depressing." I said with a sigh as I took out my watering can and filled it.

"Don't worry Hikari," The little sprite patted the shoulder he was sitting on with his tiny hand hoping to encourage me, "Now that you've rung the yellow bell things will slowly get better, you'll see!"

"I hope sure hope so." I smiled fondly at Finn; it was nice to have his innocent childish brand of optimism around. He kept things from ever seeming too daunting or hopeless, his sweet and encouraging smile was so endearing I'd liked him almost instantly when we met. For what felt like the millionth time I was grateful for his company.

After work in my pitiful field was done I fed my chicken and her chick then combed, milked and fed my cow Rosie. By the time all of this was done I was already feeling weary and I decided it be best to take a bit of a break. I went back inside put away of my farming tools and washed up a bit. For the first time that day I turned my attention to my appearance having forgotten all about it in the early hours of the morning. I was instantly glad I had remembered to look in the mirror before leaving the house!

I was a mess, my hair was mussed with bed head, my clothes were wrinkled and disheveled, and there was a smudge of dirt across my forehead (probably from weeding the field). I immediately reached for the brush and began coming out my hair, the soft fluffy strands curled around the frame my face while one strand at the top of my head stood stubbornly upright. I sighed; no point in trying to fix that one, that strand of hair has always done as it pleases. I then set about washing my face and changing my clothes. As I looked through my wardrobe I made note of the decided lack of warmer clothing. It was getting towards the end of summer now and autumn would be close behind. I smiled, just the perfect excuse to go and visit the tailoring shop…

"Good morning Candace!" I said cheerily to the shy tailor as she sat outside her grandmother's shop enjoying the quiet morning.

The timid girl wrung her hands and looked down at her feet, "…Good morning…" She mumbled awkwardly. The poor girl was terrible at dealing with people; I had dropped by to say hi nearly every day since I first came to the island and she still got a bit nervous when she talked to me. I didn't mind, in fact I thought it was cute, my heart had a soft spot for Candace. If I was a guy I probably would tie her adorable self up and take her home with me just to keep her forever. I'd never tell that to her though, she's already nervous around me.

I smiled sweetly the quiet girl clad all in blue and pulled out a thermos from my rusack, "I thought you might like some tea." And I watched as her blue eyes lit up slightly, Candace was a fan of my herbal tea. Nearly everyone was actually; even the stuck up Chase wouldn't turn up his nose at my herbal teas. I had a certain skill for brewing coffee and tea probably because I drank both so often I'd had plenty of practice.

I poured Candace a mug and she took it gratefully blushing with appreciation. That's why I loved Candace you only had to give her so little for her to be so moved. I considered us to be friends and I hoped the shy girl did to.

"The shop's about to open Candace" Called a slightly demanding voice from the door way of the tailoring shop. Luna stopped talking when she spotted me, "Oh, you're here Hikari…." She sounded put out.

"Good morning to you too Luna," I said in a friendly manner, Luna and I didn't exactly get along but couldn't hate her, she was so tiny that bratty behavior was almost cute…. That is, when you weren't on the receiving end of it. "Would you like some herbal tea?" I offered.

"No thanks," Luna said haughtily turning her head away from me, but not in time to conceal the blush creeping up her face. "My tastes are far too refined for anything you could whip up."

I laughed, these two sisters weren't as different as they seemed. "That's too bad." I said lightly, "Anyway you said the shop is open?"

"Almost." Luna grumbled

"That's good I need to see about getting some new clothes for the colder months, these shorts aren't going to keep me very warm in winter."

I browsed the shop stopping to ask Shelly questions about durability and warmth here and there and took note of all the prices. It was going to cost a pretty penny for the clothes I wanted, mostly because I was picky about the style I wore. There are certain things no matter how practical and cheap I simply wouldn't be caught dead wearing. I couldn't afford to buy them today, not if I wanted to keep a good cushion of gold in my savings. I needed to make sure I always had plenty of money in case the quest to save the island turned up anymore unexpected expenses…and it always did. I bid the girl's farewell and promised Shelly I'd be back in soon to buy the clothes I was looking at.

I stepped out into the square and looked imploring at the sky. I was hoping the heavens might bestow upon me some insight on how to avoid the next task for the day. Finn and I had decided to search the Fugue Forest today, in hopes of locating the Witch Princess. There was a chance she had the missing bell that belonged to the pedestal up in the windmill Finn and I had found the other day, add that to the Blue bell down in the watery mines I'd at least located four of the bells. (Ringing them was a whole other story though.) The Witch Princess supposedly lived deep in the forest secluded from all the villagers on Castanet Island. How anybody managed living in that creepy forest was beyond me. Usually I liked forests, they evoked a sense of excitement and belonging whenever I visited them. The Fugue Forest however put me on edge there was always the sense of unnatural entities slithering around in the dark corners of your vision. I shuddered just thinking about it.

"What kind of witch calls herself a Princess?" I asked Finn curiously, "Seems a little grandiose for a person living all alone in the middle of a creepy forest."

Finn giggled, "You never know, maybe she has a castle hidden in all those trees!" He said excitedly.

"Wouldn't _that_ be cool?" I laughed; sprite had some wild ideas sometimes.

* * *

"Well it's not a castle…" I sighed stepping out of the thicket of trees and into the swampy clearing in the forest.

Finn and I had been in the forest for hours wandering around aimlessly. There had been countless rocks and trees standing in our way and the ones that we couldn't get around had to be cut down or smashed. I was exhausted the trees in this forest never fell without a fight, but at least we had made it at last.

"But it's kind of cute!" Finn said gleefully, and I couldn't help but reluctantly agree.

It was a round building with yellow walls and pink framing with matching door and was built into the side of what looked like a giant hollowed out tree. There was clutter and junk all around the front of it and the walkway was choked with weeds but it didn't really look like a witch's abode; an antisocial, cluttered person's haven perhaps but other than being situated in a swamp in the middle of the creepiest forest I've ever seen there was nothing remotely witchy about it. I walked across the dock like bridges and approached the house…

Ok so maybe I was wrong about the house being completely un-witch-like, now that I was closer to it I couldn't shake an uneasy feeling in my gut. The pink door was surprisingly foreboding, maybe it was the sense of wrongness that hung about the house, after all cute little houses with pink doors don't belong in creepy forests. Maybe the house was purposely made deceptively cute, like the ginger bread house that lured Hansel and Gretel, maybe I wasn't supposed to feel threatened by this house…..Until it was too late. A shiver ran up my spine as my tiny companion clung to the back of my shoulder, hiding himself from the house behind me. Guess he didn't think the house was so cute anymore.

"Try opening the door Hikari." He whimpered failing in his attempt to encourage me.

I nodded and took a few brave steps towards the door and tentatively tested the handle…. It was unlocked….. Steeling my courage, and banishing any silly notions of traps and deception I slowly let the door creek open… The inside was dimly lit by what little light poured through the small windows, I looked around but there was no one to be found. The interior of the house was much like the outside, pinks, purples and reds as far as the eye could see but instead of reassuring me the garish color scheme only served to put me further on edge. I stepped into the house and began looking around for any sign of life and Finn cautiously flew in behind me.

"Hello?" I called out somewhat meekly; the house was starting to get to me.

"Is anybody home?" Finn countered a little louder than I had been.

The house remained still. With no lights on and the thin layer of dust coating every inch of the place I was guessing no one had been here in a while, maybe the witch moved? Hopefully she didn't take the bell with her. That would be a disaster, if I had to chase her all over the globe there was no telling how long restoring the island would take… longer than Castanet and the Harvest Goddess had probably…

Just then something came flying out of the shadows and lunged directly at Finn and me. We threw up our hands in cover, _this is it,_ I thought regretfully, _done in by an unforeseen adversary that I should have seen coming. _I winced, waiting impact…But after a few moments of flinching and waiting for the worst I realized nothing was happening, I remained untouched. Cautiously I peered out from behind my hands…. What I saw made me laugh with relief! A large pink frog with a tiny black hat tied securely around its chin sat expectantly on the witch's coffee table.

"Rrrrrrrrribit!" It croaked at us loudly.

Finn flew closer too it and looked at it curiously, "What IS this thing?" He asked.

"It's a frog…I think." I answered looking quizzically at its unusual color, "Never seen one that color though."

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrribit RRRRRIBIT!" The Frog croaked testily.

"It has a hat, maybe it's someone's pet?" I wondered aloud.

"RRRRRIBIT RIBIT RIBIT!" It was practically screaming at us now.

"Think it's trying to tell us something?" Finn asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't speak frog do you?" I mused

Finn giggled, "Of course not!"

After witnessing the ridiculous frog my fears had faded and I began to feel silly for being so nervous in this girlish decor. Finn and I spent some time poking around the rest of the house hoping to find some trace of the Witch Princess or the bell. Nothing of interest turned up besides the strange and stout frog who was still testily croaking at us. After a few minutes it became clear the she wasn't there so Finn and I decided to head back out into the forest. That was enough bell searching for one day…

* * *

"You actually went to the witches house Hikari!" exclaimed an astonished Maya her clear blue eyes wide. "That's so cool!"

I gave her a small smile, "For all the good it did me." I sighed taking another sip of my tea.

"She didn't have any tasty snacks for you?" Maya asked curiously and my smile grew just a little wider, it was always food with this girl. I wondered if her childlike food filled mind could possibly comprehend the nature of the difficult task set before me. Not that I'd ever give her the chance to try, I hadn't really talked about the bells to any one more than absolutely necessary and I never dared mention the ailing Harvest Goddess. Finn was the only one I had to talk to about it and he was so much like a child I often feared bringing up the Harvest Goddess, the person he loved almost like a mother.

"Worse," I said my smile turning a little sad, "She wasn't even there. Now have no idea where to find her."

"You're looking for the witch?" Colleen asked walking over to us obviously having over heard my conversation with Maya, "Do you need something magical done?"

"Not exactly," I answered, "I think she has something I'm going to need, but I can't seem to find her to ask her."

Colleen put her hands to her hips and thought a moment. "Hmmmmm…" she mused staring out into the distance. Her daughter in turn propped her elbow onto the counter and rested her head in her hand, eyebrows creased together, and thought too. It seemed to physically tax the whimsical blonde to sit still and concentrate for so long. I couldn't help but find it amusing the way she was earnestly wracking her brains for a solution.

"Oh I know!" She exclaimed jumping out of her chair and slapping her palms on the counter causing both Colleen and I to nearly jump out of our skins. "Why not ask the Wizard?"

I looked at her curiously "The Wizard?" I asked incredulously, "You mean somebody actually lives in that building with the sign 'Wizard's House' displayed above the door way?" I couldn't believe it, the door had always been locked and nobody ever came out when I knocked so I just assumed the building was empty. This was the first I'd ever heard any of the town's people speak of any Wizard and such strange and mystical things were usually at the top of people's gossip list.

Maya nodded vigorously, the brilliance of her idea overtaking her more and more with every passing second, "He's the fortune teller," she said her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm, "He can tell you all sorts of things about people, what they think of you, what they like, what they don't like, maybe he can tell you where the Witch is!" she squealed in excitement.

"His talents certainly are useful for situations like these." Colleen agreed and I just stared disbelieving at the two of them. So wait, there actually _was_ a wizard, living smack dab in the middle of Harmonica Town? _And_ despite me having lived here for quite some time now we'd never met? How was that even _possible?! _Not having met the witch I could understand, she lived all the way out in those woods making her house nearly impossible to get to and if the town was larger it wouldn't be at all that shocking that there were still people I had yet to meet, but someone living in this tiny town? Where on earth did he hide all day? This island wasn't that big and I traversed nearly all of it almost daily.

"You ok Hikari?" Maya asked looking cornered with my flabbergasted expression, "Do you not like my idea?"

I quickly moved to regain composure, "No Maya that actually sounds like a great idea." I reassured her, "I'll try asking the wizard what he knows next, thanks for your help."

I walked out of the Inn and poked Finn who had been dozing on my shoulder lightly to wake him up "Are you done napping yet?" I asked him playfully.

The bleary eyed sprite looked up at me ruefully, "Not really," he answered groggily, "I'm still kind of sleepy."

I laughed, "If you didn't get up quite so early this wouldn't happen." I teased.

"We have to get up early Hikari!" Finn insisted, "You know that."

I chuckled, "I know I'm only kidding," I told him lightly, "But we may have a new way of finding the witch."

"Really?!" he asked excitedly, he flew of my shoulder and hovered in the air in front of me, "Already?! You're just awesome Hikari!"

"I don't know about that," I said blushing slightly from his blatant praise, "Maya helped me out a little is all, if I hadn't been talking to her I'd still be where I we were when we left the forest."

Finn just smiled at me undaunted, apparently it didn't matter how I got the information or how reliable it was. The only thing that mattered to the little guy was that we were moving forward. Progress meant hope, for Finn and the other harvest sprites, for the Harvest Goddess, for all of us. Lately I was beginning to feel the weight of my quest to summon the Harvest King sag heavily on my shoulders. I tried to keep it light and simple focusing on the adventure aspect of all of it; I was on some grand quest to save the island I now called home. I was no ordinary farmer but the one appointed personally by the beautiful Harvest Goddess to save the land. I could speak to the magical sprites that most people couldn't even see, and I mere moral that I was, actually talked to a goddess. But the grim realities were never far behind these shimmering thoughts; that goddess who had spoken to and chosen me was ailing, and the island was dying with her precious tree. A tree only the Harvest King could restore (I hoped), and nobody had seen him in over a hundred years…

I fought back the urge to sigh; I didn't need any more of my happiness to slip away from me. Staying cheerful and positive was the only way I was even going to get through this and I wanted to do this, with every fiber of my being I wanted this. It was hard sometimes sure but I wanted more than anything to save this little island, I loved it. The people here were so vibrant and colorful (Some of them quite literally have you seen the hair colors around here?) the landscape was scenic and my farm, though struggling had the potential to someday become bountiful. Castanet Island was my home, and I planned on making a life here.

"Hikari?" Finn asked worriedly, I had gone quiet on him, lost in my own thoughts, he didn't like when I did that, "Are you ok, you look kind of down."

I gave him my best smile, "It's nothing." I told him, "I just got distracted for a second that's all."

"So where are we going to look for the witch next?" He asked curiously.

"The Wizard." I replied almost cryptically, Finn looked confused and I chuckled a little before explaining, "I was thinking a little mystical help couldn't hurt, besides magical beings of Castanet Island is a pretty small community, I bet the Witch and the Wizard know each other. He'll probably be able to point us in the right direction."

I turned on my heel and began climbing up the stone steps that lead up the wizard's house.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

**Hikari's PoV**

I knocked casually on the door hoping for an answer. Finn hovered excitedly overhead while I let my eyes wandered over to the sign above the door. "_Wizard's House" _it read, and I began to wonder what made him feel the need to label his home in this manner. In all my books wizards were a strange breed, maybe this one was no exception. There was no response to my knock; I didn't really think there would be. I'd been at this door a few times before when I first came to the island but the Wizard never came to the door.

"Maybe he's not home?" Finn asked concerned "Or asleep? The sun is starting to set…"

I shook my head, "I don't think he comes out," I replied, "How else can you explain why we've never bumped into him before?"

I reached down and tested the handle expecting to find it locked like I had all the other times I had been there. To my surprise the door handle turned and gave a small "Click" of the latch. My eyes grew wide with astonishment at my own luck, it was unlocked! I turned to Finn who looked equally surprised at our good fortune.

"Should we go in?" I asked, "We weren't exactly invited…"

"Let's just go on in." He answered me eagerly, "This is important."

He was right, this wasn't just an ordinary visit of curiosity, I _needed_ more information on the Witch Princess; that made circumstances a little different. I nodded sucking in my breath a little before pushing the door open and stepping inside. The inside of the house was impressive, blue trim and white walls with ornate carpets and shelves of books, papers with strange letters scrawled on them where scattered nearly everywhere and there was a table that looked like it had many strange ingredients on it. But none of this was as impressive as the massive telescope sticking out through the ceiling placed on an elevated stone ledge at the back of the house.

I could barely make out a figure standing under that telescope on the loft above me. "Who's there?" it called out to me the moment Finn and I stepped through the door, the voice sounded bored and distracted most of its concentration obviously still on whatever was on the other end of that telescope.

I fumbled for a second, how does one casually introduce yourself when you've barged uninvited into a person's home? "Ummmm I'm Hikari," I tried to answer cheerfully, "I own a farm outside of town."

There was a long moment of silence as I waited for the other party to respond causing the tension to rise. "…I'm busy at the moment…" he said slowly and almost dismissively when he finally responded, "I…Don't want to be bothered…"

Oh boy now I'd done it, he must have been upset about my barging into his house, well I guess couldn't really blame him. If someone barged into _my_ house while I was busy calculating my profit margins _I'd _be mad too. But still I stood there awkwardly making no attempt to move repeating Finn's words from earlier over and over in my head like a protective charm "_This is important." _

What felt like eternity but was probably only a few moments passed in silence as I stood rigidly repeating my protective charm over and over hoping it would give me the courage to continue in the unreasonable manner I had so far. Until finally the voice asked in its still bored and dismissive tone, "…What do you want...?"

I breathed out sigh of relief as my tension eased slightly, so he would at least hear me out. "Are you the wizard?" I asked feeling stupid, this was the wizard's house after all, but I couldn't manage to ask anything else.

"…Last I checked." Came the flat reply.

I bit my bottom lip, _here goes! _I thought crossing my fingers "You wouldn't happen to know the Witch by chance would you?"

Another pause, causing my anxiety to increase, what if the magical beings of Castanet Island wasn't the tight knit group I'd been imagining? Then I'd have wasted this guy's time _and_ wouldn't be any closer to finding the witch than when I started.

"Near Flute Fields lies Fugue Forest…." He stopped and I waited for him to continue, "Deep inside is her house."

I felt myself deflate instantly, that was it? That was no different than the information the people around town gave me!

"But she wasn't there!" I heard Finn burst out in a rare fit of frustration. And I gave the little guy a concerned look, so the lack of progress was getting to him too.

I heard the wizard let out a large sigh as he pulled away from his telescope and came down the dark wooden stairs. For the first time I could finally get a proper look at him and what I saw shocked me, _this_ was not what I had been expecting. True, walking into a building that proudly displayed a sign reading "Wizard's House" I didn't know _what_ to expect but whatever I'd been expecting it certainly wasn't this. He looked young, probably only a few years older than me though that part didn't surprise me, in books wizards were always young or really old and their appearance didn't always show their true age. He was tall and lean though it was hard to get a real feel for his build in those loose clothes of his. His hair was the strangest shade of silver blonde I'd ever seen and it was gathered up in a braid down the left side of his face. His completion was darker than mine giving him a dark and tanned appearance and under his eye there was a strange and mysterious white marking.

In fact I'd have considered him very attractive if it weren't for one small thing; his eyes. Not to say that they weren't also attractive because they were; well the one I could see was anyway, the other was hidden under his hair. It was an unearthly shade of green with an intensity behind it that could take your breath away. The only trouble was once he turned his gaze on me I could feel those eyes seeing right through me, like he _knew_ me. Even though we'd only just met and I knew nothing of him I could tell that to him I was no stranger, and I didn't like it.

I fidgeted uncomfortably when he looked at me but luckily he quickly turned his attention to Finn who had been the one who had spoken. I was momentarily surprised to find that he could actually see Finn but then I remembered that he was a wizard. If I a mere ordinary girl could see him then surly a wizard could too.

"Was there… A frog?" he asked Finn who was still looking agitated obviously not the least bit affected by the wizard.

"There was one." I answered for him finding some courage now that those eyes were not turned on me. Finn still looked annoyed but nodded curtly in agreement.

"That's the Witch…"The wizard explained, "Or the Witch Princess as she's sometimes called…" Was that the tiniest hint of indignation I detected in this tone?

Finn looked at him unconvinced, it was rare for the little sprite to be so difficult but the wizard just continued to explain it to him slowly in broken phrases unconcerned.

"She tried using….a spell to…revive the Goddess Tree." He told us.

I stared at him shocked and just slightly confused, so the same witch who had caused all this trouble and hindered my efforts to save the island by stealing one of the precious bells for Goddess only knows what was actually trying to _save_ the Goddess Tree.

"You've got to be kidding me." I mumbled disbelievingly under my breath. The Wizard turned to look at me briefly a blank expression on his face and I was suddenly stunned into silence again my heart thumping lightly in my chest. I _really_ didn't like those eyes of his.

He turned back to Finn who was also looking surprised, "…I told her not to do it…" He said with an almost tired tone.

"How am I supposed to find out where the bell is from a frog?" I exploded exasperated, could this get any more complicated?

"Is there any way to turn her back?" Finn asked worriedly.

The wizard looked at the two of is curiously, "…You wish to change her back?" He asked.

It doesn't look like I've got much choice, I thought to myself sadly, one more bump in the road. Both Finn and I nodded looking at him expectantly.

The wizard shook his head. "I cannot do it." He answered flatly.

_Lovely._

"Why not?" I asked trying to sound curious instead of frustrated.

"I need… a particular potion…." He began, "I don't have…. Any of the ingredients…"

"If we brought them to you could you make the potion then?" Finn asked hopefully.

The wizard nodded.

I fought back a heavy sigh; what was I saying earlier about unexpected expenses? "What would you need?" I asked already resigning myself to the task.

The wizard thought a moment, "A hibiscus flower…..Some good corn meal….and perfect butter." He said slowly. "But the hibiscus flower…..will be hard to find…."

"How come?" Finn asked him nervously.

"It only grows….on Toucan Island….and there are no boats running…" The wizard answered.

Because the waters are too rough, I finished silently to myself, because I still haven't rung the blue bell. This time I did let out a heavy sigh, this was no easy grocery list.

"When you get the ingredients… bring them to me and…..I'll finish the potion." He said turning his back to us and heading back up the stairs. He turned around briefly at the top of the stairs and stared directly at me, "Now I'm very busy….. Please leave."

I was helpless to do anything but obey under that penetrating gaze. It was like he could see down into the core of me, like all those things I so jealously kept hidden were as clear as day to him. He needn't have told us to leave; I was almost desperate to get out of there, to escape those eyes of his, to be able to keep my secrets to myself once more. When we stepped back outside I felt myself relax a little out in the open air, my inner most thoughts were safe and mine once more.

"What now?" Finn asked sadly.

I looked up at him and gave him a reassuring smile, "Tomorrow is another day my friend." I told him cheerfully, "We'll start on the ingredient's list and see what we can do about a boat in the meantime."

My tiny companion nodded in agreement as we made our way back to the farm to make preparations for tomorrow…

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

They were an odd pair, I decided after the door shut closed behind them, the goddess's personally appointed saviors, an ordinary farm girl and a tiny orange sprite. I had sensed their coming and left the door unlocked all day, as a troubling result many of the towns folk wandered in asking for their fortunes told. I disliked reading fortunes knowing that with each new reading I was only feeding the misunderstanding that I was a mere a fortune teller. How many of them came flouncing in calling out to me with that wretched title "Fortune Teller"? Oh how I abhorred that title.

I'd even gone so far as to place that ridiculous sign outside but still they persisted and called me Fortune Teller over and over. Maya actually came in twice wanting to know about Chase. At least she called me wizard a third of the time, it was better than most. So many mundane and ridiculous questions asked over and over all the same questions people had asked continually over the centuries. There was never anything new or different, sure the names and situations would change but it all always came down to the same basic questions. Many times I wished I would simply refuse to do anymore readings but I knew better than to deny my gift, terrible things happen to a wizard who does not use his skills.

As the day began to draw to a close and I had given all the readings I could bare for one day I began to wonder if I had been wrong in thinking the two would come to me with a question today. Still it was rare for me to be wrong about such things so I left the door unlocked while I turned my attention to the stars through my telescope. No sooner had I settled in when an almost timid knock was at my door. I was frustrated and tired from a long day of interaction with the people on the island I decided I was done for the day so I didn't move from my spot.

Once they stepped inside I knew instantly they had shown up at last, still I was rather annoyed they had taken so long so I decided to be just a little difficult. Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd had a long day however because I sprite grew very testy and I decided to change my approach and just help them. That is until they asked me to change Vivi back….. I rather liked her better that way; she was far more easily dealt with as a frog and she was sure to go right back to being her usually unbearable self the moment I changed her back. No I wouldn't lift a finger to help change her back to her usual form, it'd been so quiet since she stubbornly refused to take my advice but there was still the issue of the bell she'd stolen. If that bell wasn't found it would spell trouble for the island.

I decided to test the determination of those two instead, asking them to fetch me ingredients for a potion that would do the same thing as an incantation and turn Vivi back. Seeing as there was still as of yet no way for traveling to Toucan Island to retrieve the hibiscus needed I figured I still had a little time before I had to worry about Vivi filling the air with her horrendous screeching. The two looked rather disheartened when they agreed to bring me the ingredients, the girl Hikari turned a little pale but then she paled slightly every time I looked at her, she seemed like a fidgety girl, I hoped the Harvest Goddess knew what she was doing putting all our fates in the hands of those two. I smiled inwardly at the thought of the Island's unlikely heroes, the fidgety farm girl and an indignant Harvest Spite; oh I really hoped she knew what she was doing.

I turned my attention back to my telescope and began charting the stars a sense of amusement I had not experienced in ages coming over me as remembered the two clearly. Things were probably going to be interesting for awhile…

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

"Come on Ben." I pleaded, a fat drop of water landing squarely on my nose as I did so, "You must remember _something?!_"

"I'm sorry Hikari!" The blubbering blue sprite wailed, "I really can't remember the tune at all!"

We were down in the first floor of the watery mine, a miserably cold and damp sort of place. I was trying to work with the currently equally miserable and damp harvest sprite of the blue bell. The sad sprite had actually forgotten the tune of his bell. Until he remembered we couldn't ring it.

"It's ok Ben." Finn reassured his fellow sprite as his sobs echoed off the dreary cave walls. "We'll find a way to help you remember."

An ice cold drop landed on the back of my neck and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself. This was getting us nowhere; Ben obviously wasn't going to remember until we did something to jog his memory.

"Come on Finn," I called to the orange sprite who was patting his fellows back in reassurance, "We need to get going." to Ben I called "We'll keep thinking of a way to help you remember." I promised the sniffling sprite, "As soon as we figure something out we'll come see you."

"Ok." The blue sprites eyes looked hopeful, "See you guys soon!"

Finn flew over to my shoulder and I turned and climbed out of those cold damp caves. "Next time we go there remind me to bring a sweater" I whispered to Finn as I looked gratefully up at the sunny sky.

It wouldn't take long to warm up again in this summer heat. The streets were empty and I guessed everyone was safe inside the cool shade of their houses hidden away from the searing heat of the scorching sun. I envied them a little; it'd be nice to spend a quiet day inside every once in awhile. There was just too much to do, not to mention I'd been supplementing my merger income by selling most of the wild herbs I found along with whatever I could dig up in the mines. I had visions of fields brimming with ripened, shimmering crops, a crowded mass of chickens, and plenty of cows and sheep, but those days were still far off and every tiny sum of gold counted. There was simply not a single day I could afford to waste. With that thought in mind I pulled out my fishing rod and headed towards the docks.

"Are we going fishing now?" Finn asked curiously still sitting comfortably on my shoulder, "It seems a little hot to be sitting out in the sun today."

"Don't worry we won't stay long," I reassured him, "I just want to try and catch a few fish to fill up the shipping box, it's looking a little scant today. You can wait inside of the lighthouse if you want."

"I think I will," The sprite agreed, "Don't take too long Hikari! You could get sick in this heat." He shot me a worried glance.

"I won't and don't worry, I still have to warm up from those chilly caves yet." I promised opening the door to the lighthouse for him.

"Don't let your dreams of money get in the way of your rational thinking." The sprite warned knowingly as he flew into the back of the small room just beyond the door, "Once you start thinking about shipping prices you always push yourself too far."

I smiled, he really knew me too well; my mind was always fretting over the costs of everything. I was always looking for the best ways to maximize my profits and minimize my spending and when the costs of things like livestock and upgrading my house and barn came floating into my thoughts I always felt pressed to try and squeeze just little more earnings out of the day. At night I'd pour over the figures of my earnings and spending and try to predict my income for the following weeks establishing a minimum profit required for each day. I was always looking for the next upgrade the next profit boosting purchase, searching frantically in my ledger and in my experiences to find a way to help my farm grow even further. I couldn't help it I wanted my little run down farm to succeed.

I left the door to the light house slightly open and turned my attention to my fishing rod and the ocean before me. I threw my line in watching my white bobber dance up and down in the waves while I moved to sit on the ledge. The small white cat who liked to hang around to area approached and looked up at me expectantly. A lot of times the fishermen who used her little ledge out here would give her a small share of their catch, as sort of payment for letting them use her territory. I too often gave her any bait sized fish I caught out of respect to the small cat.

"I haven't caught anything yet," I told the orange eyed feline, "But rest assured by time I'm through you'll get your share." The slender cat mewed appreciatively and I smiled. I'd named her Star in my thoughts though she was hardly my cat. I liked her though; she acted so queenly expecting her cut like royalty taxes their land.

"Hikari!" Finn called out loudly startling me, "You've got to come look at this!" he cried.

Just then my bobber dove under the waves with a sharp tug on the line, "Just a minute!" I called instinctively whipping the rod back hopefully setting the hook. "I've got a fish on the other end of my line!"

I reeled in the floundering creature without too much trouble; it was a tinny little thing not really worth the effort used to bring him in. I sighed and looked down at the expectant cat, "This one's all yours." I told her pulling my hook out and tossing her the fish. I watched the happy cat walk away with her prize with a note of defeat, so much for filling my shipping box.

"Ok Finn what is it?" I asked tearing myself away from the sad sight.

"There's a funny looking drawing on the wall here, it seems to have something to do with music." Here said pointing to a drawing I'd encounter many times before but never took much note of. I stepped closer to the drawing to really look at it.

"That's the instructions for Phoebe's and my Recreation Melody Apparatus!" a child's voice called out behind us. I turned around to Paolo, the little boy who was always under foot at the Fishery he was beaming at me proudly, "Pretty cool huh? We built it one summer, it plays the town song!"

I nodded though in truth I could make little sense of the childish drawing still Phoebe's work was hardly ever unimpressive.

"I can set it up if you want!" the little boy said enthusiastically, "All you need is a black pearl, a duck egg, and five fish!"

I was just about to open my mouth and refuse when Finn whispered softly in my ear "What if the town song and the bell's melody are one in the same?" He suggested, though I didn't know why he was whispering, only I could hear him, "The town is built right on top of it after all."

"I think I'd like to see that Paolo." I told him happily, though inwardly I groaned, I didn't have any ducks to collect an egg from and I wasn't even sure that pearls of the black variety existed, "Do you know where I could get a black pearl?"

The little boy bowed his head in thought, the wide brim of his blue cap almost covering the entirety of his face as he did so "I think you get them from deep in the watery caves, I remember Phoebe going down in there to get one."

"Ok thanks!" I told him cheerily, "Can I ask you to run it once I find all the things I need?"

"Of course!" he agreed happily, "See you later then!" He called as he ran off to do whatever it is little boys on this island did for fun.

I stopped, taking stock of Finn's and mine current status. My current shopping list for ringing the bells included; Hibiscus flower from Toucan Island (That was on hold until I figured out how I was going to get there), Good cornmeal, (I was growing some corn in my field and now I was just waiting on the harvest), Perfect Butter, (That meant I had to bite the bullet and get the darn butter maker I guess). And now I also had; Black Pearl (Which meant going back into those soggy caves, oh joy), Duck egg (Did it really have to be a duck egg? Would a chicken egg make that much difference?), and Five fish (That much was easily done at least).

I realized with some regret that those beautiful clothes I had told Shelly I would be coming back to purchase very soon would have to wait. There was too much I needed to purchase for this ridiculous round about quest of ringing the bells. As if finding them wasn't hard enough, they always required ten extra steps before I could ring them! I knit my eyebrows together in concentration; I would need to do some research on the prices of some of these things and take their expenses into account on my savings plan. Up until now I had been on track for comfortably affording another cow and a sheep for my barn but now it looked like I'd have to set the date further back to make room in the budget for the upcoming purchases. My head began to spin as numbers whirled around dauntingly and I felt myself stagger ever so slightly.

"Hikari are you ok?" Finn called out worriedly, "You don't look so good."

"I'm ok," I said slowly trying to get my head to clear of this cloudy feeling, "I was just thinking about how much all this is going to cost." I told him lightly, "On our income, this ever growing shopping list is no small thing."

"Hikari you don't look ok." My little companion insisted coming closer his tiny features contorted with worry. "I think you should get out of the sun for a bit."

"I'm ok really!" I said though the cloudy feeling still persisted, "Be sides I need to catch a few more fish still we can't leave yet." Those over whelming figures floated tauntingly in my thoughts; I couldn't afford to take a rest yet.

"Hikari leave it for tomorrow," Finn insisted, it won't do you any good to push yourself to the brink of exhaustion. If you do that you won't be any good to do anything tomorrow."

"Finn I can't leave it for tomorrow," I pleaded, "Do you have any idea how little money we've made in the last few days? Besides," I said tossing my line into the water before me, "I already told you I'm fine!"

Unexpectedly a fish took my bait almost the instant it was in the water, I flicked my rod back hard and began to reel him in. The fish fought me… _hard..._ I grinned at the welcome challenge, a fight meant a bigger catch and a bigger catch meant a decent shipping price, I could hardly believe my luck. I stopped reeling for a moment and let him run before jerking him back hard and reeling him in again while he tugged relentlessly on the other end of the line. The hazy feeling in my head was getting worse now and I struggled to keep my eyes focused on my line but I didn't care. This fish was _**mine**_! I let him run only to pull him back a few times more slowly drawing him closer and closer to the shore. I could hear Finn pleading in the background but it was all I could manage to keep my mind on the fish as the corners of my vision were beginning to become as cloudy as my head, I was starting to lose my sense of my position, it was like I was suddenly floating on air but still I kept fighting the fish.

When I finally managed to drag him onto shore I was panting heavily on my knees leaning on my arms for support but oh was he a beauty! As large as I could ever want, flopping around stubbornly still fighting with everything he had in him. "See?" I said to Finn between pants, "I'm totally fine!"

I went to stand up with my hard earned prize but as it turned out, I wasn't fine. I suddenly felt really dizzy; I could no longer tell up from down as darkness spread out before me from the corners of my vision forming an impenetrable wall around me until all I could see was black…

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

I looked up from my book suddenly and stared vacantly out in front of me. Something wasn't right; I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was but I just knew there was something that required my attention. I tilted my head curiously trying to decipher what it had been that had told me so. I scanned my eyes idly over my home; no everything here was in order. I tried to think back on the events of my day thinking maybe there was something I was supposed to have done but had forgotten, no answers there. I pondered today's date and the time wondering if there was some event I was missing but still there was no explanation. I shrugged trying to settle back into my book but still the feeling persisted…

At last I came to recognize that this was a premonition, an inkling of what was about to happen only seconds from now, it was a common side effect of having the ability to see into the future, sometimes the present would send me a message as well. It was odd though that I should get one now warning me of some upset, all was quiet in my peaceful home and I never concerned myself with the goings on outside of my door. Still the feeling continued and I heard a faint banging on my door, it was so quiet had I not been on alert for the answer to this feeling and instead had been reading my book I never would have noticed it. I stood up calmly and made my way over to the door, this was probably what I had been sensing.

When I opened the door a little orange harvest sprite came flying in with a frenzy of motion, he did not even wait for me to speak as he hurriedly forced out an incomprehensible stream of words. He looked frantic, worried and nervous. I held my hands up and looked blankly at little sprite who I recognized to be the one who had visited me earlier with that farm girl Hikari.

"Calm down…." I told him simply, "Tell me slowly… I can't understand….your words."

The tiny creature took in a deep breath "It's Hikari!" he burst out frantically, "She's fainted and I can't get her to wake up and no one is outside to find her there like usual and-and no one can see me so I can't get their attention- I told her not to do it! I did I really did but she never listens she's so stubborn and-and AND!" The little creature heaved with anger brinking on hysterics.

"Where is she…?" I asked calmly

The tiny sprite looked up at me almost surprised but it quickly faded as he worriedly answered "In front of the lighthouse, she was fishing there."

I nodded and stepped out into the hot summer day heading towards the light house. Why was I doing this? It really wasn't any of my concern if this girl had fainted. After all it was my strict policy to not get involved. I stayed in my house, reading books, charting stars and occasionally reading people's fortunes. I sighed that must be why, it was my abilities that called my attention to this little sprite and I knew better than to refuse what my talents asked of me, even wizards such as myself were resigned to do as fate dictated. Why was it I was always being forced by my talents to do what wizards are always advised not to do, have regular contact with humans? Some things remained ever a mystery to even me.

I reached the front of the light house and looked down at the unconscious girl; this at least was no mystery. "…She's just been out… in the sun too long…" I told the Sprite who had now returned worriedly to his companion's side, "She needs cool shade…..and rest…"

"I know that!" The sprite insisted, "But _I_ can't mover her!"

I gazed at the girl and sighed, her face was flushed a bright pink as sweat beaded across her forehead; she was baking out in this heat. This was defiantly more involved than I wanted to get, still there was no choice, she needed to be moved and the orange clad creature was certainly right, he couldn't do it. I bent down and scooped her up off the stones. These two certainly had been causing me a lot of trouble lately. Luckily she was surprisingly light though her body temperature was uncomfortably warm against me in this heat. She lived a ways outside of town I remembered and it would be faster just to bring her into my house. The clinic was open but I did NOT want to have to face the open stares of the people there, the sooner I got this over with, and the less people involved the better.

I turned to start heading back towards my house when I noticed the small sprite retrieve a very large fish from the ground. I stared at him blankly.

The little sprite blushed slightly, "It's the one Hikari caught," He explained, "it's what pushed her past her limit, she'll be devastated if we lose it."

My face remained blank while I walked back in the direction I had come but inwardly I was annoyed, all this trouble over a fish? I looked down at the source of all this; her head cradled against my chest, her auburn hair hanging loosely in front of her face. There was a distinct frown and her eyebrows were knit together as the sweat continued to run down her bright pink face. She wasn't in very good shape, she looked miserable. At least she wasn't causing all this fuss without paying some consequence, still I'd need to place a cool towel on her head once we got inside.

When we at last came to my still open door I was glad that we were nearly there, her dead weight was starting to become heavy. I marched inside and set her carefully down on my couch before returning to close the door. The harvest sprite was sitting next to his companion and buried his face worriedly into the girl's hair.

"Hikari you never listen to me." He whined, "If you're not careful one of these days you're going to really get hurt!" The girl did not so much as move in answer to her tiny friends pleas and merely continued sleeping. The spite did not seem to mind though for he slowly removed himself from her hair and flew over to me smiling brightly. "Thank you so much for all your help." He said gratefully, "If you hadn't come to the door I don't know what I would have done."

I just shrugged slightly as I began to run cold water over one of my small towels.

"I didn't really like you at first but now I see you aren't such a bad guy." He said happily, "I'm Finn by the way, I'm the Harvest Sprite created to help Hikari save the Harvest Goddess. Well find someone who could see me and bring them to the Harvest Goddess really but I help out where I can."

I wondered if his strong attachment to the girl Hikari wasn't a form of imprinting. Was she so important to him because he had been created to find her? The other sprites on the island were all tied to their bells maybe he had the girl instead? But if that were the case his power would be tied to hers and he would be suffering now in her weakened state but he remained as lively as ever.

"Interesting…" I muttered to myself and the sprite just cocked his head to the side looking at me curiously.

"Hikari is going to really owe you one after this." Finn chatted happily, "Were going to have to work extra hard to get those ingredients even faster!"

I winced slightly, that would be the exact opposite of what I wanted, "...No need…to rush…" I said calmly. The longer they took the better it was for me, I was in no hurry to have Vivi back up to her old tricks, I wasn't looking forward to the headaches. I placed the towel on the girl's forehead and moved back over to the book I had been reading before all this madness had started. The orange sprite Finn drifted lazily back over to his girl and curled up next to her falling asleep….

Hours passed before she finally stirred, I had nearly reached to end of my book when she sat bolt upright causing the towel on her forehead to land in her lap and shouted in a panic "Where's my fish!" She demanded looking around with wide eyes of concern "Oh please don't tell me I lost him! He was my biggest catch yet!" I had thought the sprite to be exaggerating when he claimed that she would be devastated about the fish but it seemed he had been quite serious.

The little sprite looked up sleepily, "I put it in your rucksack." He told rubbing his eyes, "Don't worry its safe."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh good. Where are we anyway?"

"At my house…" I answered from over at my desk putting down my book, "It would seem….that you're finally….awake."

She stared at me eyes wide with shock and I noted with some relief that all traces of pink had gone from her features. She did look a little pale though.

"Hikari, the wizard helped you out after you collapsed." Finn explained, "There was nobody around to find you like there usually is, so I had to get help. He brought you back here to rest." All the while she never once took her eyes off of me and I just stared blankly at her in return. She really was an odd girl, causing so much trouble over a fish; of course it wasn't hard to figure out what had been going through her mind that made that fish so important. She was a poor farmer who also had to finance her quest to save the island, that fish to her was a small pile of gold.

"Sorry for all of the trouble," she said her eyes still locked on me, "we'll be sure to get out of your hair quickly."

"You pass out often…" It was statement not a question, it was obvious from the way the sprite talked that she did this sort of thing all the time. She nodded looking uncomfortable, "be more careful….from now on." I didn't really want it to come a habit, her lying passed out on my couch.

She stared at me and blinked a few times before a patch of pink crawled up her face, "I'll try" she promised moving her head to turn her attention to the harvest sprite who was now sitting on her shoulder and I began to wonder if she was still suffering the effects of the sun. Her face had gone quite pink once again. "I better go," She stammered making her way for the door. She stopped in my doorway and turned around, "Thank you." she called back in the tiniest whisper before walking out and shutting the door firmly behind her.

I stared blankly at the place where she had been. She really was an odd girl….


	3. Chapter 3

_**Willow here,**_

_Sorry for the long wait on the next chapter, I got slammed with a lot of hours at work and didn't really have a whole lot of free time to edit this most recent chapter. Also I've reached the end of what I had written before hand so now I'm writing as I go. So expect things to slow down more. I'll try to be efficient but sometimes writing is a painfully slow process and I never know when I'm going to be called in for a bunch of extra hours at work. So thanks for putting up with me and srry for the wait! ^_^_

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

"Hikari that's too much water!" Finn exclaimed causing me to look down dazedly at my pathetic and now drowning crops.

"Oops," I muttered lifting up the watering can and stared blankly at the submerged corn stalk, "My bad."

"What's with you today Hikari?" Finn asked curiously, "You've been out of it all day, are you still not feeling well from yesterday?"

I felt wave of heat crawl up my face as I remembered the day before. I had caused so much trouble for a person I had only met once before. I must have looked like an idiot sprawled out on that stone ledge. I'd passed out a few times before but usually someone I knew would find me and drop me off at the clinic, Jin would give me a lengthy lecture about caring for my health and not over doing it that I could now recite word for word and then I'd go home and sleep the rest of the day. The Wizard and I were strangers and yet he still helped me out and even let me use his couch.

"Can we not talk about yesterday?" I mumbled shuffling my feet slightly as I did so, "It is embarrassing just thinking about it."

Finn tilted his head "Why" he asked puzzled, "It's not like you haven't passed out and made someone help you before."

I blushed harder, "Yeah but usually somebody I knew found me and helped me out," I said, "This was… different…."

Finn looked at me confused, "I don't see how," he commented but left it at that. It was too late to forget about the incident though, in truth it was all I'd been thinking about since I'd left the wizard's house. When I woke up on his couch I could hardly fathom what was going on, I could hear Finn explaining things in the background but I couldn't peel myself away from those eyes. It was the same penetrating gaze as before and it still scared me to think a person I hardly knew could see me that well. But there was something about it that intrigued me too, something that wouldn't let me pull my eyes away. What did I look like from behind those seemingly all seeing orbs? I felt like the child who had been burned by the flames yet still reached her hands out to the warmth.

"Hikari you're doing it again!" Finn yelled and I looked down to see a mass of water where my field once stood. I pulled up my watering can but it was too late the entire contents of the can were already dumped onto the ground.

"Great," I muttered to myself bitterly, "Now I have a puddle." Just then my brand new duck that I'd only bought that morning waddled up and began squatting in my puddle of a field; apparently she thought it might work as a pond. I rolled my eyes and forced out a laugh.

"That won't work you silly bird," I said teasingly in a sweet voice, "It's too shallow."

She quacked insistently as I picked her up out of my crops and set her down in the nearby pond that I often used for fishing.

"There," I said happily, "Try that, it'll work better."

Seeing the bird was indeed happier in her new spot I turned my attention back to my crops. They had enough water to last the three days now and I figured it best to leave them alone. I had done enough damage for one day. I gave a worried glance to my corn stalks, I hoped this wouldn't hurt their quality too much if I was going to make good cornmeal I was probably going to need good corn.

"Ugh I need more coffee." I said miserably heading back into my house. "It's going to be a long day."

"What are we doing today?" Finn asked curiously, "You should probably take it easy today; you still don't seem quite right Hikari."

"Mostly shopping," I told him pulling out more coffee beans, "We need to get a butter maker, and I was thinking we'd do some fishing to get those five fish, maybe walk down into the watery mine and find a black pearl."

"Hikari you want to go mining!" The tiny sprite exclaimed, "That's the absolute worst activity you could be doing! You always practically kill yourself in the mines!"

"That's not quite true. The worst thing would be to go collect lumber in Fugue forest." I told him defensively, "However I don't plan on mining while I'm there we're just going to make our way down until we spot a black pearl is all." I reassured him. _And if I happen to smash a few rocks once I get to the pearl and collect a few ores well then what's the harm? _I thought to myself.

Finn looked at me doubtfully. The little guy really knew me too well.

"Finn we have to start checking items off this list of ours or we're never going to catch up." I insisted, "It seems like there's new items on the list every day."

The little sprite looked no less doubtful but he relented, "Ok, let's get started." He said finally, "But since we're going by there, maybe you should stop at the Wizard's house and give him something to say thank you for yesterday!" Finn beamed.

I looked up at my grinning friend; he could be pretty mischievous when he wanted to be. Or maybe he really was just that innocently happy and cheerful either way he now had me backed into a corner. To refuse might look like un-appreciation to the small sprite and cheerful little optimist though he was; he was not above lecturing me when I did something 'bad'. Lectures from most people I can take with an attentive smile and an inward eye roll but Finn was always relentless he'd just keep pestering me until I agreed to go anyway.

"I don't even know what he likes." I said giving in before even starting to fight.

"Why not give him some of your tea?" Finn suggested not at all phased, "You said yourself everyone likes your teas!" He smiled happily as if he'd just fixed the problem.

I poured my freshly brewed coffee into a thermos, there wasn't going to be time to drink it at home we needed to get going. "Alright fetch me the spare thermos." I told Finn screwing the cap tightly on my coffee. He complied and opened a little cupboard in my tiny kitchen and brought the thermos over to me. I quickly brewed up some tea and poured it into the spare thermos before heading out the door to begin the day.

It didn't take long to buy the butter maker from Barbra at the general store though it did pain me a little to fork over the cash for it after having bought a duck only earlier that day. I reassured myself that this purchase wasn't all bad it would at least boost my profits in dairy from now on. I had used a similar reassurance when I bought the duck, I kept thinking of the eggs I'd be selling from now on.

"I think we should go to the watery mines next," I told Finn walking out of the store, "There's no telling how long it's going to take to find a pearl and I don't want to be down there well past midnight."

Finn nodded in agreement, "That means we're stopping by the Wizard's next right?"

"Yeah" I said meekly, Finn was awful eager to go, "I wasn't under the impression you liked the Wizard much Finn, what changed?"

"He really helped you out yesterday." Finn said simply.

"Yeah, but off all the people to go to for help why him?" I asked curiously as I began to climb into the mine cart. Finn gave me a look that told me the answer was obvious, "Oh right," I said feeling stupid, "Not too many people can actually see you."

"Nobody but you and other magical beings can see me." Finn confirmed, "We're lucky the Wizard was close by."

"I don't get the feeling he likes visitors much," I said feeling the rush of wind as the mine cart began moving and picked up speed, "I hope he won't be bothered by us dropping in."

"We won't stay long." Finn shouted above the racket of the old mine cart, "Just long enough to say our thanks and leave."

We finally jerked to a stop and I was reminded again why this cart was really meant for objects and not people. I felt a little woozy stepping out of it, I always did, but it was still faster than going all the way back around. Finn flew up out of the bottom of the cart looking even woozier than me, the ride was always hard on him. You'd think someone who flew around in circles around me all day would be a little more resistant to motion sickness, go figure.

"Are you alright?" I asked him even though the answer was obvious, "Do you want to sit for a minute before we get moving?"

The orange sprite shook his little head causing his hat swish around as he did so, "I'm fine," He insisted, "Just keep going I'll be right behind you."

"You don't look fine," I countered teasingly, "But ok, I'll keep going."

I walked slowly allowing Finn to take it easy even if he said he didn't need it. It wasn't too long before we'd made our way into town through the church yard. I turned and came up to the Wizards house. I was still a little nervous about facing that gaze of his again but I decided I wouldn't let him scare me. I took a deep breath put on my best smile and bravely knocked on the door. There came no answer, I was beginning to think he never answered his door. I reached for the handle and found the door was unlocked so with a shrug to Finn I opened it and walked right in.

The wizard was sitting at his desk intently reading a book; he didn't even bother to look up when we entered. I wondered if he was intentionally rude or if it simply never occurred to him that it might be important to answer the door and say hello to visitors. He didn't exactly strike me as the social type.

"Hello Wizard!" I said in a loud and cheery voice as if announcing my presence, "your door was unlocked so we came in, hope you don't mind."

He slowly looked up from his book staring at me with a blank expression. _Well at least he doesn't look unhappy to see me. _I thought to myself, _sure he doesn't exactly look happy but I'll take indifference over dislike any day. _I stepped out of the doorway and walked over towards his desk.

"Hello…" He said blankly. I waited a moment to see if he would say anymore but he said nothing.

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, I figured it was best to say thank you and leave him in peace, "I dropped by to give you my thanks for yesterday," I said rummaging through my rucksack for the thermos.

"No problem." He said simply as he turned to return his attention to the book on his desk. Just then I caught a whiff of a familiar sent…. I could smell a faint hint of the dark and rich aroma of coffee. Then it hit me, the Wizard's whole house smelled of coffee. I didn't notice at first because I was so accustomed to the scent.

Suddenly I got a brilliant idea, stuffing the thermos of tea back into the rucksack I instead pulled out the one that contained the coffee I had brewed for myself but had yet to drink. I carefully poured out the dark liquid into a cup I had with me and handed the mug over to the Wizard.

I watched his eyes brighten slightly with some amusement as I smiled and told him "Think of this as my thanks to you."

He took the mug slowly and peered down at it, "I love this…..Thank you…" He said quietly. I couldn't help but beam with pride; I'd managed to find something he actually liked.

"I'm glad you like it." I told him turning around to go, "Well I'll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing, just wanted to say thanks again for yesterday. Bye!" I gave a small energetic wave and quickly left not waiting for a reply.

"Why'd you leave in such a hurry?" Finn asked me curiously as I leaned on the now closed door, "It seemed like it was going well."

I now realized my heart was pounding, for some reason my brief visit with the wizard had been exhilarating, "It was going so well," I breathed, "That I was afraid to stick around and ruin it."

Finn looked at me his eyes wide and then he burst out in a fit a giggles, "That's ridiculous Hikari!"

I felt heat flare up in my cheeks, "It's not that absurd." I said almost pouting as I pushed off the door and began walking stubbornly toward the watery mines.

Finn wiped I tiny tear from his eyes, "You're right I'm sorry I laughed," he said trying to sound sincere but I didn't really believe it.

"Humph." I puffed stubbornly.

"Hikari don't be angry," Finn whined, "I didn't mean to laugh you were just so silly, in a cute way I mean!"

"You're not helping your case any Finn." I said flatly.

"Hikarriiiiii!" The tiny sprite called out my name in a pathetic pleading whine. I smiled, I couldn't stay mad at Finn.

"I'm not mad." I reassured him, "Come on we need to find a black pearl."

* * *

"This is going to work right?" I asked Paolo nervously as he precariously perched my newly gotten duck egg, the first my duck had laid for me, on the top of the roof of Hamilton's house on the far side of town.

"Of course it is!" the little boy said gleefully, "As long as you put everything in place properly anyway."

His words hardly filled me with confidence. This whole situation seemed ridiculously whimsical. Only on this island would hearing the town song require using some harebrained contraption that spanned the entire town itself. That is, if it even worked and we didn't end up just splattering my hard earned duck egg all over the road below. To Finn I whispered, "I sure hope this helps jog Ben's memory, I'd hate to have gone through all this and still be stuck at square one." Finn just nodded in reply.

"Ok here goes!" Paolo shouted and gave the egg a hardy push, I watched nervously as it rolled down off the roof, miraculously bounced of the molding of the clinic like it was a rubber ball rather than a fragile egg, hit the blue and white striped tarp which trampolined it into the chimney like thing on the wizards house. From there it was carried by water until it rolled down a ramp and landed safely on the waiting catapult which launched the black pearl into the weathervane, against some hanging sheets and into a shoot which bottomed out in the pool with all the fish. Startled by the splash the fish swam down the narrow channel and eventually shot out of the fountain landing on the giant piano miraculously landing on the right notes to play the town song.

I stared at the ludicrous invention in disbelief I was sure I'd witnessed an event that defied all scientific explanation. Since coming to Castanet Island I had seen a lot of strange things, tiny little magical beings called harvest sprites that no one could hear or see, a maiden of unearthly beauty claiming to be a goddess, magical bells that rang out not a single note but a whole melody, and said melodies allowed fires to get hot and soil to become fertile, pink frogs that were actually witches, potions that could get livestock pregnant, whole festivals being set up and torn down in a matter of seconds and I never doubted or questioned any of it. But this; this was too much for even me to handle.

"Great isn't it?" Paolo beamed.

"It's unbelievable." I said with complete honesty.

"Hikari lets go see if Ben remembers the melody now." Finn said excitedly, evidently the astounding display of irrationality had not affected him in the slightest. I suppose when you're an impossibly fantastic creature like a harvest sprite breaking all the rules of reason isn't something all that extraordinary.

I looked back over my shoulder to the Wizard's house and my hand absently came to rest on my rucksack. I had been showing up at his house every morning to deliver a fresh cup of coffee ever since that first day. I never really mustered up the courage to stay long but I still kept coming back, I wasn't really sure why just a whim I suppose. I gave my thanks to Paolo and whispered over to Finn "Do you think we could make a stop on the way home?" I asked

Finn looked at me curiously for a moment, then he seemed to understand, "Sure!" He said cheerfully.

We headed down into the watery mines, it was still damp and miserable and I wanted to finish our business there as quickly as possible. I approached the impressive looking blue bell and glanced over my shoulder to Finn "I hope this is it because after this I don't know what to try." I said

"Just go on and call out Ben Hikari" the little sprite insisted, "I'm sure everything will turn out fine." There were days I'd give anything for Finn's optimism for I was the eternal worrier, I wasn't sure everything would turn out fine, quite the opposite in fact. I was sure this wouldn't work, that I would fail, that everything would depend on me coming up with something to jog Ben's memory and that no idea would come and the island would shrivel up in the meantime. Still nothing was done without trying so I hesitantly called out the Blue harvest sprite.

Ben appeared in a puff of green sparkles but he didn't look very happy to see us, in fact he would only hang his head in shame refusing to look up. Evidently he had not managed to remember the melody on his own. Before I could say a single word Finn piped in and asked, "Hey Ben! Did the melody go like this?" and he hummed the town song, he remembered it well for only having heard it once and I just looked at my little friend with amazement. Ben quickly picked his little head up apparently having been struck by revelation.

"I remember it now!" He said looking shocked, "I can ring the bell now!" His expression now turning to one of glee. I felt a rush of relief flood over me as he said so, this had worked after all. Ben immediately turned his attention to the bell behind him and set about preforming the small ritual of ringing the bell. I had seen similar rituals for the red and yellow bells by now and knew they were all generally the same, the sprite told their bell to ring out it's melody, did a funny little dance and rang the bell. Still when the clear melody rang out from the bell I felt an over whelming sense of happiness wash over me, it was the same with all of the bells, every time was as refreshing and delightful as the first, it was pure magic. The kind of magic that lifted your spirits and cleansed your soul; the best kind…

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

I was reading my book when the melody of the blue bell rang through the air and caused me to look up. _So she managed to ring another one. _I thought to myself I could feel the magic of the bells wash over the island every time one was rung but this was the first time I had actually been within hearing distance of the melody. It was a nostalgic sound and I briefly wondered just how many years had it been since I'd last heard it. _The Goddess' appointed saviors have done well, it won't be long now._ Of course it would only get harder from here, saving the goddess tree was no simple task. Still I was beginning to believe that if it was those two they would probably succeed.

I glanced down at my now empty mug, they would probably be here soon; Hikari had been showing up daily with a thermos of coffee in hand. Part of me wished she had never discovered my love for the drink since her presence was always like a whirlwind never failing to successfully distract me from my work. She'd barged in every morning loudly announcing her presence, then she pour the coffee into my mug and then leave just as quickly as she came. I couldn't wrap my head around it. What was her purpose for coming day after day? What was she hoping to gain? She never stuck around long enough to accomplish anything and when I tried to refuse the coffee she would insist. She really was an odd girl. Still the coffee she brought was finer than anything I could manage to brew and I was grateful for it.

As if on cue I heard a timid knock at my door followed by the sound of it swinging open and a person shuffling in, "Hello Wizard, it's Hikari!" she was beaming brightly, almost foolishly, evidently still under the effects of the Blue Bell's melody; if one is close enough to a bell when it's rung it can sometimes induce a sort of high.

"Hello….." I muttered in response.

"Finn and I just came up from the watery mines!" she announced in a bubbly voice, "We just helped Ben ring the blue bell."

I raised my eyebrows slightly, "I heard…." This was most she talked to me in the last few days usually by now she had poured the coffee and was on her way out the door.

She beamed up at me cheerily with a smile more sincere than I'd ever seen her use; she almost seemed to sparkle when she smiled like that. "I just stopped by to deliver the coffee." She said walking up to my desk pulling out her thermos. "Look at that, perfect timing your cup is empty."

"You don't…..have to trouble…yourself." I said in a weak attempt at refusal but even as I was speaking I couldn't keep from eagerly eyeing the liquid as she poured it.

She smiled, "No trouble at all," she insisted, "after all I brew myself some every morning, it's just as easy to make some for two as it is for one." So she drank coffee too, it might explain why the stuff she brought was so good. I brought the mug up to my face and inhaled deeply before taking a sip. It was absolutely delicious she really could brew a good cup of coffee.

"Well…..I love this…" I told her honestly, "Thank you…." I watched as her face turned a bright shade of pink, she did that often I noticed. She watched me intently as I took another sip of the coffee.

"Is it good?" She asked curiously, "Like truly and honestly, I could make it stronger or weaker if you'd prefer."

I shook my head slightly, "…It's fine." I told her.

"Really?" she asked doubtfully.

I nodded.

"That's a relief!" She said once again smiling that carefree smile I had seen for the first time today, "Oh my look at the time I have to get going, bye wizard!" And with that she quickly turned left shutting the door loudly behind her.

After she left I stared down at my desk for a few moments, _what was I doing again?_

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

I was staring down at my mug of tea absentmindedly when I let out a heavy sigh. I had been oddly energetic the whole day and now I was finding that the energy had left me and I was begging to feel moody and depressed. It was like something over took me and robbed me of all my strength and cheer taking it with them when they left. I sighed again and began rubbing my temples.

"That's the eighth time you've done that since we came in." Finn said counting off on his fingers, "Is something wrong Hikari you seem kind of off this evening."

"It's been a really long day." I said watching the steam rise up from my tea and taking another sip, "I feel like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster."

The tiny sprite looked at me confused, "What's a roller coaster?" He asked curiously. Having never left the island it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he'd had no idea what a roller coaster was.

"It's ride people go on that goes really fast up and down hills and stuff." I said without much feeling.

"Like the mine cart?" Finn asked curiously.

"Sort of," I said with a sigh, "only they're a lot more nerve wracking."

"That's number nine." Finn said insistently.

I set down my mug on my wooden table and looked around my tiny house feeling perfectly wretched. Soon my eyes came to rest on the window and I caught a glimpse of the silvery moonlight through the loosely hanging curtains. I got up from my chair and wandered over to the window and I could feel Finn following me with his eyes. When I reached the far side of the room I took my hand and gently pulled back my curtains and peered outside into the palely lit evening. Just then an idea struck me.

"There's only one thing to do when one feels like this." I muttered quietly almost to myself. "Come on Finn lets go outside and look at the stars awhile, I'm sure it'll lift our spirits a bit."

Finn looked at me confused, and I answered him with a small smile, "Ever since I was a little kid whenever I feel really down I like to look at the stars, it helps." I walked over to the door and held it open, "You can come along if you'd like but you don't have to."

"I'll go wherever you go Hikari!" Finn said brightly and flew quickly out the door. I smiled, good old Finn always up for an adventure.

We decided the beach would lend the best viewing experience nearby so we walked down and the soft sound of the waves added to the calm of the evening. I laid down in the soft sand and turned my gaze to the evening sky. Star gazing was better here on Castanet Island than it had been at my childhood home, the sky was littered with stars. As looked up at them a sense of wonderment came over me; it always did. To think that each of those tiny specks in the sky was a star as big as or bigger than our sun was almost mind boggling. Then to realize the largest celestial body in our solar system, the sun, was smaller than some of those far off specks; that made our entire planet less than a speck of dust in the practical cloud of the universe. Should one day that tiny speck of light that is our sun should wink out and all life on our planet be destroyed in the grand scheme of things how great a loss would it really be?

Now such thoughts would probably depress most people but for me it lent a sense of relief, if I was less then less than a speck in the great fabric of the universe just how badly could I really screw things up? All of my massively important and worldly problems became so miniscule and minute when thrown at the whole of existence it was like some weight was taken off me if only for a brief moment while I gazed up at the stars.

"They really are beautiful aren't they?" Finn asked in a contented voice pulling me from my thoughts for a moment.

"They are." I agreed feeling almost lost among the splendor of it. As I gazed up at the sky and at last felt myself relax I without meaning to, began drift off and eventually fell asleep. The last thing I remember was looking at was the twinkling of those celestial bodies off somewhere in the vast distance of the universe….

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

I looked up from my telescope and sighed, normally I loved spending endless hours charting every detail of the stars movement meticulously but today I felt an odd sensation of restlessness. It happened from time to time, even I had to get out sometimes. I glanced at the clock, it was 2 in the morning. It was probably safe to go out for a walk without running into anyone. I reached over and grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair at my desk and headed toward the door.

The cool night air was pleasant after the suffering the heat during the day and the moon illuminated much of the world around me. It seemed like a very nice night for a stroll. As I made my way through the now empty streets of town I made note of all the changes that it had undergone in the last few decades. It was amazing how quickly things changed where ever ordinary mortals were involved and just how quickly time really did pass. The stars much like me didn't do much in the way of change over the centuries and sometimes I'd finally look away from the sky to find seemingly eons had passed. I was beginning to feel much like a relic these days, long long ago wizards were greatly respected and sought out in times of great need of fantastic feats. There was a time when I saved lives, cured curses, and banished monsters but now I just read fortunes and located lost objects.

I heaved a heavy sigh and turned my attention again to the sky as I walked across the small bridge and out of town. _I guess I've just outlived my usefulness_, I thought sadly to myself, _there isn't much need for wizard's any more, why even now that a magical crisis has turned up it's completely beyond my power to fix it. _In the old days reviving the goddess tree would have been a snap, but now I was finding my powers were dwindling along with the island, Vivi's too. It was like the whole of the magical world was just slowly and painfully dying out. I looked back over my shoulder over to the mountain peak so far above my head.

"…Any time…..old friend…" I murmured absently to myself mostly, "Your treasure….it's dying…where are you?"

Just then I noticed my surroundings again, without really realizing it I'd made my way to the beach, odd that I should come here, I almost never came to this part of the Island. I glanced around and noticed something was sprawled out in the sand just a little ways in front of me. It was too far from the waves to be something that washed up from shore yet it was too big to be any of the wildlife native to this island. Curious I approached and to my vast surprise I found it was the farm girl Hikari. I couldn't for the life of me understand what she was doing out here in the middle of the night sleeping on the sand without so much as a blanket.

I couldn't help but break out into a small smile, she really was a very odd girl, I could never figure out just what she would do next. I came closer and knelt down to get a better look at her in the pale moonlight, I guess hoping to gleam the nature of her overnight stay on the beach from some detail on her person. I'm not entirely sure why I needed to see her better I just did. She was laying on her side curled up into a tight little ball. Her auburn hair had fallen over her face casting grey and wispy shadows across her cheek. Her face was fixed into a stubborn frown with her brow slightly furrowed, her sleep was evidently troubled.

_You worry too much for one so young. _I scolded her silently in my thoughts, _You really must learn to smile from your heart more. _Just then a shiver moved through her entire body and her brow furred even further as she attempted to curl up into an even tighter ball in her sleep. What was she thinking trying to sleep outside without a blanket? It occurred to me that I should wake her up and send her home, but there was something peaceful and almost sacred about the quiet silence of the evening and I knew that once I woke this sleeping farm girl that she'd undoubtedly try and fill the night air with words. Still I couldn't leave her out here in the cold either….. Just then I thought of an easy solution to my predicament…

That having been done I turned my attention back to the stars and continued my evening walk...


	4. Chapter 4

_**Willow**_** here,**

_Once again I find myself apologizing for the long wait. Sorry for that, but I realized if I was going to continue writing this story I was going to have to go back and do some research, I haven't played the game in ages and I haven't played the beginning in years. After going back and refreshing my memories I discovered some inconsistencies between this story and the game, for one I got AP mixed up with ToT (and come on who hasn't from time to time) and was under the impression Castanet was an island. After looking at the game map I realize it's not. Also I forgot that certain characters weren't unlocked until after the blue bell was rung. Oops... _

_So forgive my little mistakes and enjoy the next chapter, Hikari is still being painfully awkward when it comes to the wizard and more troubles turn up on the path to curing the witch. I'll try to put up the next chapter next week, as I think my 45 hour work weeks are FINALLY (Cross your fingers) coming to an end giving me more time to write and edit._

* * *

**Hikari's Pov**

I woke up to the sound of waves crashing onto sand and a familiar yet unidentifiable sent. I liked the smell though, it made me feel safe and I wondered where I'd encountered it before. Refusing to open my eyes and wake fully I drowsily pulled the blanket up over my shoulders and nestled in further. As I did so I immediately noticed that my legs became exposed to the chilly air. That was odd, this blanket was awfully small. That's when my eyes came open and I realized something was defiantly off. I sat bolt upright and stared dazedly at the beach spread out in front of me. It took me a moment to realize what had happened; I'd foolishly fallen asleep on the beach last night. I slapped my palm lightly on my forehead, of all the idiotic things… I looked around quickly, at least it seemed no one was around to see me, then as I turned to look behind me I felt the blanket I'd been using fall off my lap and I looked down at it to pick it up. As I did so my heart stopped.

It was no blanket, I hadn't even brought one last night, but in fact a jacket. A dark blue jacket with intricate white designs on the sleeves and a hood. The instant I saw it I knew who's it was, the wizard's. Of all the people that could have walked by and seen me last night why did it have to be him? He kept finding me such embarrassing situations he probably thought I was a huge weirdo. I felt a blush crawl up my face as I buried it into the jacket in misery. It was just so embarrassing, I probably looked like an idiot dead asleep out there in the open, and I hoped I wasn't doing anything weird in my sleep. I didn't think I snored but neither did every person who snored.

"Hikari what are you doing?" I heard Finn call out to me. I looked up to find him buzzing around my head like usual, as if we hadn't just stupidly spent the night out on the beach. "You look kind of upset."

"Why didn't you wake me and tell me to go back home?" I asked Finn.

Finn shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I fell asleep too." He said with a small laugh. I didn't feel much like laughing; I felt more like crawling into a hole. "What is that?" Finn asked pointing to the Wizards jacket which I was still holding up to my face.

"I'm pretty sure it's the Wizard's." I said trying to sound casual, "Unless someone else on this island likes his fashion style." I couldn't help but inhale the sent from the jacket, though I felt like a total creep as I did so. It called to mind images of old books and hot coffee, and some peculiar sense of being home. Maybe it was because my house always smelled of coffee and tea, or maybe it was because I could so clearly remember my mother's shelves of books as a child, I couldn't really put my finger on it.

"Was the Wizard here last night?" Finn asked me curiously watching me clutch the jacket with an annoying hint of amusement.

"He must have been." I said moving to stand up, "Unless someone else had his jacket and chose to leave it here. Though I don't understand why anyone would leave it here." I shivered in the morning wind, the day had yet you warm up and it was always windy on the beach not to mention summer was coming to an end soon.

"You must have looked cold," Finn said as though it all seemed so obvious, "So he left his coat to warm you up!"

It was a simple enough answer but the whole thing seemed impossibly outrageous. I mean, what were the odds? I shivered again and decided it was ridiculous to freeze out in the wind when I had a jacket in my hands. "Let get home so I can get some coffee." I said to Finn throwing the jacket on, "We can see about retuning this later."

I marched up to my house and quickly set about making the morning coffee, it was still fairly early and I had a little more time than usual to enjoy my first cup as long as I didn't waste time making it. I went through my entire morning coffee routine without once realizing that I still had on the Wizard's jacket, in fact I didn't even notice the thing at all until I had sat down and lifted the cup to my lips only to have the baggy sleeves fall around my elbows. It really was a very comfortable garment and I found that I liked wearing it. It was one of those jackets that had just the right weight to it to wear in any kind of weather, it was no wonder the wizard always had it on.

I took the jacket off to inspect it further and watched as a small pile of sand fell onto my floor. Having spent a night on the beach it was in need of a shaking out. I set it gently over the back of one of my chairs and set out to start my day. My corn had looked like it was ready for harvest when I'd walked by them this morning and I was eager to inspect the stalks further. If I could manage to harvest a high quality crop I had already learned how to make corn into corn meal at the watermill. I'd managed to make some perfect butter a few days ago and so all that would leave was the hibiscus flower.

I gathered up my tools, straightened up my appearance and set about doing my daily chores around the ranch. Rosie was doing well, as were my chicken and her chick, and my duck seemed to be settling in just fine, though she was always eager to be turned out for the day. I was a little worried what she'd do when the rainier weather hit. With the animal's all cared for I moved to my crops.

I was a little nervous harvesting the corn, unsure of how their quality would be, but I worried in vain. I managed to grow several cobs of good corn and even one perfect. I was excitedly storing the spoils of my harvest into my rucksack when I noticed Paolo come running up to my little farm. He seemed awfully excited about something and I half wondered if he had some other impossible contraption to show me.

"Good morning." I called out a little dubiously as I was filling my shipping bin with the crops I didn't need to keep.

"Good morning Hikari!" the boy called out with an amount of cheer that could have rivaled Finn, "A ship has come in!"

I snapped my head up and looked eagerly at Paolo, "Did you say a ship?" I asked disbelievingly, I'd only rung the bell yesterday.

Paolo nodded, "You've got to come see, let's go to the docks!" he said taking off back in the direction of town.

I shut the shipping box with an over enthusiastic thud and took off after the now running Paolo. We both ran the whole way there, though I couldn't help but feel a bit foolish doing so. The boy's excitement was contagious, since I'd shown up, Castanet hadn't seen a single ship come into its harbor. It had been a point of general gloom and anxiousness for anyone living here. Supplies couldn't be shipped to or from any or the surrounding islands and there had been no way for anyone to get to them. Now at last it seemed our isolation was coming to an end.

We dashed over the bridge into town and through the streets. When we reached The Fishery poor Paolo lost his balance and tripped over his own two feet. He was a little ways ahead of me so I managed to catch up with him and give him a hand with getting back up.

"Are you ok?" I asked pulling him up off the ground, "That was quite a spill."

Paolo nodded a little embarrassed. "I'm fine.' He said simply.

I smiled reassuringly at him as I dusted him off a bit. "Come on," I said cheerfully, "Let's go see that ship."

As we reached the docks I could see that Paolo hadn't been the only one to notice the new visitor to Castanet, there was a small crowd of people from town all huddled around and older looking man dressed as a sea captain and the ferry like ship that was docked behind him. Everyone seemed excited and relieved and the man they were all crowding began to speak just as Paolo and I approached.

He smiled amiably, "Sorry to keep everyone waiting," I he began, "I'm Pascal. Now that you're lighthouse is working again I can operate my boat here."

That was funny I didn't even know the lighthouse was broken. I looked imploringly at Finn but he shook his head as if to indicate he didn't have any idea either. I shrugged my shoulders slightly and turned my attention back to the friendly looking Pascal. He seemed to me like the kind of person Ozzie would get along easily with, indeed Ozzie was standing next to him beaming like an idiot, maybe they were old friends.

"Sorry I was gone for so long everyone." He said apologetically and he sounded like a teenager who'd been away from home too long, evidently he was part of this big family of ours. "From here on out it's smooth sailing ahead." He said happily, "I'll be sailing my ship everyday so long as the weather is good. I'll be taking passengers to Toucan Island!"

Everyone cheered and offered their warm welcomes to Pascal while I just stood back a ways staring and thinking. It was unbelievably good luck that the first ship to come to Castanet was the one that would take me to Toucan Island the very place I needed to go. I watched as each person in turn came up to the sea captain, said their hellos and eventually drifted off back to their daily lives. Nearly everyone was gone when Pascal finally noticed me.

Upon seeing that I'd been noticed I quickly moved to introduce myself, "Hello my name is Hikari," I said with what I hoped was my best smile, "I own a ranch just outside of town."

"I've never seen you around before." He said with a friendly air.

I nodded, "I only just moved here at the beginning of spring." I explained, "But I've already made my home here."

Pascal laughed easily, "Good girl!" he said brightly, "There isn't anywhere better in all the world," he told her enthusiastically, "and the people are some of the best you'll ever find."

I decided I liked this man, it seemed we both shared a similar love for this wonderful place and the people in it. I glanced over at Finn who was beaming brightly from ear to ear, it seemed Finn too thought Pascal was alright.

"Will you really be sailing to Toucan Island every day?" I asked curiously, "I have some supplies I need to get from there."

Pascal nodded, "If you want a ride to the island just buy a boat ticket from the fishery," he explained, "Ozzie always sells the tickets for me since I take him out on my boat for fishing from time to time. If you bring me your ticket I'll be happy to take you."

"Thanks I'll remember that." I told him giving him a wave, "It was nice to meet you!"

Pascal tipped his hat playfully, "And you too."

I couldn't help but laugh as I made my way back into town. "Well that was certainly interesting wasn't it?" I asked Finn who was flying in circles around me.

"Are we going to buy a ticket and go to Toucan Island?" he asked excitedly, "I wonder what kind of place it is?"

"We're not going today," I said with a small smile, "Let's let Pascal have a day to rest, we'll go first thing tomorrow morning."

Finn looked a little disappointed as he stopped flying in circles around me and hovered directly in front of me, "Ok." He said simply.

"Don't worry today will go by in flash," I assured him, "There's lots to do today and it's already nearly afternoon."

* * *

It was early evening yet and I was staring at the now so familiar blue door to the wizard's house trying, like always to work up the nerve to go in. I glanced down at the dark blue jacket draped over my arm. Just how was I going to go about giving this back to him? I'd been so adamant about doing this in my mind, I even brought it all the way out here even though it meant back tracking after having already been into town this morning but now I was seriously considering turning around and going home.

_Just walk in and give it to him! How hard can it be? _I asked myself, _Say thank you, handover the jacket and leave. _Still my feet wouldn't move and I couldn't bring myself to knock on the door. Even I found myself pathetic, why was it the wizard always seemed to turn me into such a timid mess? I didn't usually have difficulties dealing with people. I actually thought I was generally a people person I certainly never had any real trouble conversing with anyone else on the island even the more difficult personalities like Luna and Chase.

Maybe it was that the wizard was different? You know Magical? That had to be it I decided, what else could explain why he had such an unsettling presence that made my heart pound? Or why when he looked at me if felt like he could see straight into me? Still the answer didn't make going in any easier. I looked glumly down at my feet.

"Hikari if we stand out in front of this door any longer without going in people are going to start staring." Finn teased lightly, "You look a little dazed."

I looked around nervously wondering if people were in fact staring and Finn giggled. I flushed visibly; there was no one around to be seen. "You tricked me." I half pouted, "There isn't anyone around."

"But I got you to snap out of it." Finn said cheerily, "You looked really troubled just now."

I felt guilty for worrying Finn, it was easy for me to think that I was the one who looked after and took care of the little guy but the truth was it was he who took care of me. So to put him at ease I mustered the courage to knock loudly on the door before us. I waited a moment for the response I was confidant by now would never come and then proceeded to open the door that was now always conveniently unlocked.

I strode in to the familiar setting of the wizards house and let my eyes absently go over the room. The Wizard was at his telescope concentrating intently on whatever was on the other end. I'd seen him look through the telescope before but usually he'd busily move between it and his notes, quickly writing down a few words before returning back to whatever it was he was looking at but today he sat motionless, oblivious it seemed, to all else.

"Hello Wizard." I called since he didn't appear to have heard us come in, "It's Hikari, I came to return your jacket."

There was no response from up in the loft so with a sigh I decided to go on up and try to get his attention. I climbed the stairs and got a better look at him. His back was to me and I realized he looked a lot different without his jacket, slighter, plainer, more human… I looked down at the jacket in my hands and briefly wondered how one article of clothing could so drastically change an impression.

"Wizard?" I called again hoping to this time get his attention.

"Hmmmm?" Came the absent reply. He was obviously completely absorbed in whatever it was he was doing. I couldn't help but smile, for some reason I found it cute.

"It's me Hikari," I explained, "I stopped by because I thought you might be wanting this back." I said lifting up the jacket with both hands and shaking it, "I think I shook all the sand out but you can never be sure sand gets into everything. So sorry in advance."

I watched as he slowly looked up from the telescope and turned around to face me. Well some much for seeming plainer, when he turned to face me his presence was as unsettling as ever. He seemed to stare uncomprehendingly first at me and then at the jacket in my hands. I couldn't keep myself from laughing.

"Come back down to earth Wizard, your mind seems to still be in space." I teased lightly handing that jacket over to him, "Thanks for lending it to me, it was really warm."

He finally seemed to snap out of it and took the jacket, "…Thank you…." He said simply.

"No thank you," I said feeling suddenly awkward again, "Well I'll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing. Bye Wizard." I turned and started to leave.

"Wait….."

My heart stopped and my body froze as if in compliance with that quiet command. It was almost like I was helpless to disobey his request even though I wanted nothing more than to run away like I always did. I turned around slowly giving the wizard a puzzled look.

"What is it?" I asked almost afraid of what the answer might be.

"I'm curious….." he said slowly, "What were you….doing…..out there?"

I unconsciously glanced at the telescope without meaning to and suddenly felt very self-conscious. For some reason telling him the answer felt horribly embarrassing. He was obviously an expert when it came to celestial bodies and somehow it didn't seem right to classify last night's adventure in the same category as all of this. I felt a wave of heat crawl up my face and I stared down at my feet. I could feel his eyes on me though and I knew I wouldn't be able to manage walking away until I answered.

"I was out stargazing," I explained, "And I guess I just sort of fell asleep."

"…..I see." If he had any reaction to the answer to his question at all he did not show it. "Be more…careful…. In the future….. Don't catch cold."

It was same lecture that everyone gave me, be careful, don't fall ill, take care of yourself but for some reason it seemed extra embarrassing coming from the wizard. I didn't want him to think I was an idiot who couldn't even take care of herself. I really wasn't as helpless as I seemed lately.

"I will." I promised turning to leave, "See you later Wizard, thanks again!" I called out over my shoulder as I dashed for the door and closed it firmly behind me.

I leaned up against the outside of the door and sighed, my face hot, and heart pounding; this was beginning to become something of a routine…..

* * *

"I can't believe how much that cost me!" I huffed standing in front of the fishery. "For 400g this island had better be amazing."

I looked down at the tickets that I was clutching in my hands and sighed. After discovering that the boat tickets were good at any time regardless of how long ago you bought them I decided to buy two just in case. I'd hate to need to get to the island only to find that the fishery wasn't open for me to buy a ticket. I glanced over at Pascal's ship and decided that I shouldn't be so gloomy. I was only one ingredient away from success after all.

Finn was zipping around excitedly above me. He seemed unperturbed by the price or my displeasure at it. I suppose he was used to my complaining by now and truth was my coin bag was flush with the profits from yesterday's crop harvest so it wasn't like I didn't have the gold. Finn was beaming down at me with all of his cheerfulness; he was really looking forward to seeing Toucan Island.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked him carefully tucking my spare ticket into my rucksack.

"Yeah let's go!" Finn cried happily, "I can't wait to see what the island is like!"

I smiled in return and walked over to where Pascal was standing and handed him my ticket. The old man smiled warmly and took the ticket.

"You'd like to go to Toucan Island today?" He asked me happily.

"Yes," I nodded, "Sorry to send you out when you only just arrived but I really need to go there."

Pascal laughed, "Not at all!" he exclaimed, "I've been itching to get back out on the waves anyway."

I now realized I may have been mistaken the other day in thinking Pascal shared my love for this place. He certainly seemed to be fond of it but watching him stare out over the water it became abundantly clear the place he loved most was the sea. I briefly wondered what a life being tied to the sea would be like. The ocean was too vast and unknown to ever feel like home to me. Still I guess there were some who found that endearing about it.

I followed Pascal onto his boat with Finn right behind me and found a place to settle in for the ride ahead. I looked to Finn and suddenly remembered something.

"You aren't prone to seasickness are you?" I whispered remembering how dizzy he always got in the mine cart.

The tiny orange sprite firmly shook his head. "I'll be fine!" He insisted but I was a little doubtful...

It didn't take as long as I had expected to get there. I had hardly had enough time to grow bored before the ship had docked and we were walking out to step foot on Toucan Island. For being such a short distance from Castanet it was like night and day in difference. Toucan Island was a very small very tropical island composed mostly of beach. There were vibrant flowers in bloom and the beaches were littered with glistening shells I'd never seen before. It felt like an island get away and the only buildings on the island gave off a cabana feel that only reinforced the impression. I'd finally made it, I was so happy I literally jumped for joy.

"This is amazing!" Finn squealed, "It so pretty here."

"You've got that right," I said happily, "and I bet there are just loads of high priced items waiting to be foraged, who knows I might even make a profit?"

Finn shook his head at me and sighed, "Hikari….."

I laughed, "I know I know I was only joking." I reassured him. …Well, half joking… "That looks like an inn over there, let go on inside and see if we can't get a hibiscus flower."

Finn nodded enthusiastically and we both made our way for the door. It swung open with ease and caused some chimes hanging above the door to ring softly from being bumped by the door. It was a light sound and I found it to be very pleasant. The inside of The Pineapple Inn was just as pleasant, clean, summery and refreshing. I let my eyes wander around the room until they settled on a young woman standing lazily behind a desk. She had tanned skin and red hair with a pinkish tinge that she'd pulled up into a bun, and she wore one of the strangest outfits I've ever seen. Her midriff was completely exposed by her small purple halter with gold trim and white almost puffy pants. It looked more like a dancing costume than every day wear.

When our eyes met the languid girl suddenly sprang to life. She smiled brightly and gave an enthusiastic wave, "Hello there. You're From Harmonica Town right?" She said cheerily. "I'm Selena!"

"Hello Selena I'm Hikari." I said as way of introduction, "It's nice to meet you."

Suddenly Selena practically threw herself across the counter, making a loud bang as she did so. I jumped back a bit started by the unexpected reaction but Selena did not pull away and merely started talking excitedly.

"Now that the ship's sailing I want to visit the mainland!" she exclaimed with enough enthusiasm to convince the dead to start walking. She sure was animated.

"That sounds exciting." I said not know what else to say.

Just then we both heard someone walk into the room and Selena's bright expression turned instantly sour. I turned to see an older, more moderately dressed woman standing a little ways off looking very disgruntled. Her thin brows were furrowed together and she was waving her arms about insistently.

"I told you you're still too young!" the older woman snapped, "I absolutely won't allow it!" she said firmly.

Selena marched over to the other woman defiantly and began waving her fist in the air and stomping her foot screaming, "Stop trying to control my life!" She accused, "I'm NOT a child anymore!" she whined.

I was beginning to wonder just what it was I had gotten myself into, luckily the two were largely ignoring me. I glanced up at Finn who shrugged nervously when he noticed me. This was clearly a family dispute of some sort and I really wanted to find some way to discreetly leave.

"Well you certainly throw a tantrum like one!" The older woman shot back, "Selena you should SEE yourself right now!"

As if to only prove the other woman's point Selena folded her arms across her chest defiantly turned her head and huffed. "I HATE YOU!" she bellowed with one more foot stamp before she stormed out of the room like a rebellious teenager.

"Hey!" The other woman called after her, "Selena get back here!" and ran after the now already gone Selena.

I watched the door swing shut as the chimes I had only moments ago thought so pleasant jangle discordantly throughout the room. Well that was awkward….. I got the feeling I had probably just seen something I shouldn't. I looked over to Finn who appeared to be feeling much the same as I did. I opened my mouth to talk to him when I noticed someone else in the room. A burly looking man with a mustache and funny hair cut walked over to me looking apologetic.

"I'm sorry you had to see that just now," he said sadly, "I'm stuck between my wife and daughter….." and his expression really did look torn. "I want Selena to chase her dreams like any parent does."

I nodded agreeing with his statement, after all, that enthusiasm she had exhibited just a moment ago was a rare and precious thing.

"But" he continued, "I know Sue will be sad if she leaves. She's our only daughter and there aren't too many people to talk to on this lonely little island once tourist season ends if Selena leaves it'll be lonely for us."

I could sort of see their point but I couldn't really agree with them, I silently thanked my parents for letting me leave for Castanet without much trouble. I know they had been sad to see me go but they also knew it had been what I wanted. Still it wasn't my place to say anything to him on the matter, it was a family issue and I only just met them.

The man looked at me with sorrowful eyes, "I just don't know what to do." He shrugged helplessly and my heart went out to him. "I'm Samson by the way. I run this shop."

My eyes lit up, so someone was going to be able to help me buy the hibiscus flower after all. "The hibis…" I began but Samson talked over me.

"Normally we do good business in Hibiscus seeds. It's Toucan Island's famous flower you know." He said and I didn't like the emphasis he had put on the word normally, "I can't sell such a beautiful, peaceful flower, with all this fighting going on."

My heart dropped, you had to be kidding me. Of all the people to have to buy a flower from in the world I had to get the spiritualist with a feuding family… I couldn't comprehend his motives at all this and that were two totally different issues. Money is money no matter what point in your life you're in! This was a terrible business strategy, he just admitted that the hibiscus seed was his main source of income but he wasn't going to sell any due to family distress? Wouldn't falling into poverty only cause more distress?! I was about ready to explode, after everything I went through to get here, now that I was finally standing here within reach of my goal he was telling me to go home empty handed.

I left out a very heavy sigh.

"I hope this fighting lets up soon so I can sell Hibiscus seeds again." Samson said simply and it took every ounce of self-control I had in me not to scream. Samson went behind the counter and I gave a quick wave and made my way out the door before he could saying anything more that might put me past my limit.

"I guess we're not going to be buying the flower today?" Finn said helplessly, "I hope his family makes up soon, it's sad when people fight."

I looked straight up into the sky wonder just why it was I had to hit every single snag on my way to ringing these bells...


	5. Chapter 5

_**Willow here (as if it would be anyone else);**_

_Well I did it, it nearly killed me but i did it. I wrote and edited a full length chapter in a week despite my busy life. I suffered majorly from writters block and general apathy for this project this week. Probably as a result Hikari isn't in a very good mood for most of this chapter. A lot more charaters take part in this chapter than I usually use but I was starting to realize my Castanet was feweling a little flat. I'm not sure i can promise you guys a new chapter every week, this was pretty hard but I will certainly try to keep up with this story._

* * *

Chapter 5

**Hikari's PoV**

I still couldn't bring myself to face it, I'd come all this way simply to go back empty handed. I mean four hundred gold and for what? A picturesque view and a warm summer breeze? I had to admit if I had come here for a bit of break and sought only relaxation they would be wonderful, but that was not what I had come here for today. I glanced around and noticed some tropical fruits lying around. I glumly went over and harvested them. I might as well get something out of this trip.

Finn must have sensed that I was feeling down because he tried to cheer me up by saying "That's sure to fetch a high price back home!"

I did my best to construct my best smile, I was good at that; smiling for others. "You're right!" I said cheerily, "Why we will be rich in no time!"

Finn seemed relieved and so the two of us started wandering the island gathering whatever we could to take home and sell. Luckily the beaches were littered in shells and other such things and there was plenty of wild fruit to be had. Some of the local wildlife was a bit odd, there was a penguin of all things and two pandas but the island was beautiful and the walk around was pleasant over all. It was a shame the island was so small it meant it offered limited foraging and took only a short time to encompass the whole of it. Barely an hour or two had passed before Finn and I found ourselves back in front of the Pineapple in.

I was looking around searching for something more to do, not wanting leave so soon after arriving when I noticed Selena standing on the islands eastern beach. She seemed wistful staring out into the waves. I couldn't help but feel bad for her, growing up alone with your parents on this tiny island must have been tough, there weren't exactly that many places to go to get away, it was easy to see where dreams of getting off the island and journeying to Castanet were born from. I found it quaintly ironic, here on this island where people went to get away a person living here felt trapped.

Without realizing it I slowly made my way over to her. She turned to face me as I approached and her expression was almost pained. "Hi." I said lamely

"Hey," Selena said listlessly, "Sorry you had to see that."

I shrugged my shoulders awkwardly. What could I say?

"I could be a famous dancer if I could just get off this island." She sighed a little, "I could show you at least. Do you want to see me dance?"

So she wanted to be a dancer; that explained the outfit a little. I thought about it for a moment, why not? "Sure!" I said enthusiastically.

She seemed to catch some energy from my enthusiasm and smiled happily, "Ok watch this!"

I nodded and took a seat in the sand settling in for the show.

She bowed extravagantly and then began her dance. She twirled gracefully and moved seemingly effortlessly in an almost seductive manner. She was graceful and mesmerizing but even more impressive was she oozed confidence and joy. _She loves this, _I thought to myself, _she genuinely loves preforming. _I was awed by her presence and felt my eyes glaze over in wonder. She was actually really very good.

She finished with one last twirl and bowed again a huge grin on her face despite the fact that she was breathing a little harder than when she started. She was absolutely glowing with happiness. I stood up and began clapping enthusiastically.

"I'm not an expert but you're really very good!" I exclaimed letting excitement take hold of me, "That was amazing!"

She grinned happily and replied, "Well if you ever want to see me dance again just let me know."

I nodded and gave her a smile, "I will." I promised.

After that Finn and I milled about the island for a few more hours. I tried my hand at fishing but all of the fish around the island were way beyond my skill level. Eventually we ran out of ways to waste time and it was time to head home, empty handed to Castanet. I glumly walked up to Pascal my head hung in a note of defeat. Part of me kept hoping a hibiscus flower might magically turn up in my hands.

"Are you ready to head back?" Pascal asked cleaning his pipe.

I nodded in silence too drained by disappointment to speak.

"Alright climb aboard and we'll head out." Pascal responded pocketing his pipe and making his way onto the boat.

I climbed on with Finn close behind me. We sat down on the boat and watched with increasing disappointment as the island got smaller and smaller on the horizon. "It's too bad we couldn't get the flower." Finn said sadly with a tiny sigh. I nodded my agreement but said nothing, to dwell on it any longer might lead to depression, and I couldn't really afford to be out of sorts right now. There was just too much to do. "At least we got a nice mini vacation!" the tiny sprite said his ever present optimism shining through at last, "It's nice to get away from time to time!"

I managed a small smile. I wondered if cheerfulness and optimism counted as a superpower because Finn certainly made it seem like one. "How do you do that?" I finally asked him.

The orange sprite titled his head to the side, "What?" he asked me confused.

"See the good in everything." I answered, "No matter what happens you always find something positive to take from it."

Finn giggled, "Because you're here Hikari." The tiny sprite answered as if was the most natural thing in the world, "You always do your best and never look away from the task at hand, every day with you is a good day."

I blushed slightly from the blatant compliment. The truth was I could probably only go on some days because Finn was here. His warm cheerful encouragement was always right behind me. For him to say he was an optimist because he was with me made me feel just a little happy.

We reached the docks in Harmonica Town shortly after and I climbed off the boat ready to put the disaster of Toucan Island behind me. There wasn't much I could do for them, I'd wait a week and come back to see if things had settled down. And if not? Well maybe if I just kept showing up Samson would eventually take pity on my and sell me the seeds anyway. It wasn't the best plan, it wasn't even a good plan but what else could I do? Just then I heard the sound of footsteps behind me and with Pascal in front of me that meant…. I turned around quickly to see Selena standing cheerfully behind me. My heart dropped… _oh no…_

"Thanks for the Ride!" She said happily, "If you hadn't have showed up who knows how long it would have taken me to find a way off!"

I stared at her dumb founded and her melodious laughter poured from her lips. I began to panic, _she's just run away from home hasn't she? She has! Oh no, this is bad. _ I began looking around helplessly for something. I guess I thought her parents might show up out of thin air and, I don't know, blame me I guess. It was ridiculous sure, but this whole day had been kind of crazy.

Selena suddenly struck a flamboyant pose her chest swelling with pride, "I'm finally here!" she announced happily completely ignoring my helpless panic, "Now to find some work! See you later Hikari!" She smiled gave a brief wave and walked off leaving me alone with Finn staring after her still in shock.

"Well," I said to Finn, "That was interesting." And I heard the tiny sprite giggle in response.

* * *

"And she just walked off just like that!" I said with a frustrated sigh laying my head down on the table before me. The noisy drone of the sewing machine to my right was causing my head to hurt slightly. I'd been avoiding Sonata's Tailoring shop lately feeling guilty for not being able to purchase the clothing I'd promised to. But I was beginning to miss the people there so I'd dropped by this morning and began spilling out all my frustrations from the previous day to Candace.

"Sounds like a real adventure." Candace said busily sewing away at her sewing machine, "I'm almost jealous." She said kindly.

"Adventure is just a nice word for misery." I laughed bitterly, "So don't be."

"What do you need a Hibiscus flower for anyway?" Candace asked curiously eyes still on the fabric between her hands the needle steadily bobbing up and down all the while.

"Someone uh… asked me to get it for them." I answered awkwardly, I didn't really discuss the bells with anyone and it made conversations like these awkward, "They need it for something important." I struggled to find half-truths to tell her, I didn't want to lie to her. "What sorts of flowers do you like Candace?" I asked wanting to change the subject.

The shy girl blushed deeply, "Snowflake Flowers." She muttered sheepishly. I smiled, the small cute flowers that bravely poked up through the freshly fallen snow. Somehow the image suited her.

"I'll grow you some this winter." I promised and the blue haired girl blushed harder.

"Y-you don't have to trouble yourself…." She fumbled awkwardly and stopped sewing to look at me, "I mean just for someone boring like me."

My smile grew wider, "Candace you're not boring." I reassured her, "You're actually really cute, besides I'll only give you a few, I'll sell most of them so don't worry about it."

Candace became completely red and looked helplessly down at the ground unable to speak.

"What are you doing to Candace?!" a brattish voice snapped and I turned to see Luna standing testily over me, "We have work to do and you're in the way just sitting around like that!"

"Oh alright Luna," I said with a sigh, "I'll take my new clothes and get out of your hair." I couldn't afford all of the clothes I had been looking at but summer was creeping ever further away with each passing day so I bought one set of cold weather attire. "See you later Candace!" I called over my shoulder and I playfully stuck my tongue out at Luna who rewarded me with the desired scowl. I laughed lightly and made my way out the door.

Once I was outside Finn flew up in front of me, "So what are we doing today Hikari?" he asked cheerfully.

I thought for a moment. I didn't know what I wanted to do today. We were at a dead end with the bells so really I should have spent the day mining or fishing or something to boost my profits as much as possible but the truth was my heart wasn't in it today. Today I just wanted to mill around and not do much of anything.

"I don't know." I said finally, "I haven't really thought about it."

Finn put his hand to his chin in thought, "Hmmmm." He tilted his head from side to side, "I give up!" he said after only a moment, "You're always the one who thinks of these things Hikari."

I laughed and dug through my Rucksack absently, hoping to find some inspiration there. I'd brought my fishing pole but the idea of sitting on beaches, bridges and docks staring at the tiny bobber floating on the water for hours at a time sounded decidedly dull. My hammer was in there too but fumbling around in the dark mines outrunning various gasses until late into the night was not the kind of adventure I was up for today. My axe was still in there from my last trip to Fugue Forest but I hated to collect lumber on a good day so that was out. I rummaged further to find some various herb and berries I'd collected this morning and some mussels I'd picked up off the beach. No nothing of inspiration there, the empty thermos that I'd used to transport Candace's herbal tea. Then I remembered and started looking for my second thermos.

I hadn't seen the wizard in while but for some reason, out of habit I guess, I'd still been making coffee for two each morning. I could go take the coffee to him; it'd kill sometime at least and maybe give me the chance to come up with something to actually do for the rest of the day. I looked up to see Finn looking expectantly at me, I almost wished I had something more substantial to give him but I was at a loss.

"Let's go take this to the Wizard for now." I said pulling out the thermos I'd been looking for. "We'll figure out something after." Who knows, maybe by then I would be willing to do something finally.

Finn just nodded in agreement and lead the way.

* * *

**Wizard's PoV **

From the moment Hikari walked through the door I felt like something was off. I couldn't put my finger on what exactly was off just that something wasn't right. Perhaps it was her casual pace as she made her way over to where I was seated. She was usually in such a rush, or maybe it was a vague expression in her eyes even though her face was smiling. I tried to shake the feeling off, after all it wasn't like I knew this farm girl well enough to know such things and when a person was upset and _wanted_ someone to notice they didn't smile.

"Good morning Wizard." She said in her usual manner, and I decided I must have been mistaken.

"….morning." I said turning my attention back to the stack of books before me feeling slightly embarrassed to have made such wild assumptions out of nowhere.

I waited for the next interruption that I was sure was about to come but she remained quiet. Curious, I glanced up and saw her aimlessly wandering around the room a lost sort of expression on her face. She idly dragged her fingers lightly across the spines of some of the countless volumes on my bookshelves. I watched her intently, I had not been wrong in thinking something was off after all. She seemed to be without purpose or direction which was a state I now realized I'd never seen her in. She was always on a mission of some sort and she moved forward with a stern determination to get things done. I wondered what in this lost state of hers had brought her to _my _door of all places.

Her gaze turned to me after a few long moments and she at last seemed to become aware of what she was doing. She squirmed slightly under me gaze the way she always did. "Sorry," she mumbled, "I was just thinking there sure are a lot of strange things in here."

"…..Tools of….the trade…." I answered simply most of my attention now on trying to figure out this new side of this seemingly ever changing farm girl. I rested my head in my hand as I became absorbed in the new puzzle.

"I guess that makes sense." She said awkwardly, "Oh but I didn't come here to snoop!" she said suddenly seeming to remember something. She rummaged in her bag and brought out the now familiar thermos, _of course _I thought to myself, _the coffee._

She carefully made her way back across the room opening the thermos as she did so. There seemed to be a deliberate slowness to her actions as if she was stalling for time. She took my mug and poured the coffee wearing a half-hearted smile that for some reason turned my insides.

Finally I could stand it no longer, "….What's wrong?" despite my general rule not to pry, I wanted to know.

The color drained from her face and she seemed to struggle to respond, "W-what do you mean?" she stammered.

I opened my mouth to respond but I was interrupted by a frantic harvest sprite. "What?! Something's wrong with Hikari?" the tiny sprite exclaimed suddenly flying in frantic circles around the girl. "Does it hurt anywhere? Are you ok? What happened?"

So her constant companion hadn't noticed anything off, perhaps I had been wrong?

"No Finn, I'm fine." She laughed trying to calm the orange creature down, "I don't know what you two are so worried about."

The Sprite looked at her firmly "Hikari are you sure?"

"I'm fine Finn, honest." And she flashed us both a radiant smile that made me sure I had to have been mistaken…, that is until I saw it falter, if only for the briefest of moments. The sprite must not have noticed for he relented and stopped fussing. I just continued to stare blankly at her not at all convinced. "Really." she insisted quietly looking at me.

It surprised me that she knew what I had been thinking most people accused me of being hard to understand. But I was even less convinced by her insistence.

"Well I have to get going," she said suddenly and I knew that to be her queue to dash madly for the door, "See you later Wizard, I hope you like the coffee." And just as I suspected she spun around on her heel and ran for the door. I watched the door swing closed and wondered why she was always coming here if she was always in such a hurry to go. Odd, I was usually the one desperate for the person to leave and the conversation to end. A vague sense of amusement came over me at that thought.

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

"…_.What's wrong?"_

I snorted a little at the memory of the wizard's question, what's wrong indeed. I hadn't even realized that something _was_ wrong until he'd asked me that. I mean sure I was lacking the drive to do anything today but that happened to everybody from time to time it wasn't a sign of anything unusual. How could he have known before even I knew? The image of those eyes intently staring at me while he asked me that question played over and over in my mind the whole day.

I ended up just wandering around gathering wild pants and whatever else I could find for the rest of the day. All the while trying to decide what exactly was wrong with me. The day was now nearly over and I thought I finally had an answer. With the quest to ring the bells now at a dead end I simply couldn't bring myself to do much of anything. I was tired and spent, and just done for a while. I didn't want to care anymore. I felt like it was an all of a sudden kind of thing but the truth was I knew this was a long time coming. I'd been putting everything I'd had into this little mission of mine and I was finding I simply had nothing left to give. It was time to take a break, come back to it again later. Doing so wasn't giving up it was even healthy, so why did it make me feel like such a failure?

"Ugh I need a drink." I said looking over to the Brass Bar from the bridge that crossed over into town. They would open in a few minutes I knew and I decided that was just the place I wanted to be. I wasn't a big drinker and I usually only stayed up late if I was mining so I didn't frequent the place but I would stop by for the occasional cocktail from time to time. Besides it seemed the perfect way to end a day where I'd generally done nothing at all.

I made my way over the bar and couldn't help but notice the general noise level was higher than usual. Curious I walked through the door and inside. The cause of the ruckus was immediately clear. Up on the usually unused stage at the back of the bar, doing the dance I had seen only a few days before in a very different setting was Selena. She was dancing her heart out and the crowd loved it. I couldn't believe it. I had sort of figured she'd just blow through town in favor of some of the larger cities further inland. To think she took a job here in castanet...

"Hello Hikari," called Hayden coming out from behind the bar, "It's rare to see you here."

I tore my eyes away from Selena and looked at Hayden, "Yeah I had kind of a rough day and figured I could use a drink." I answered honestly, "Have any recommendations?"

Just then Selena walked off the stage and approached the two of us. She seemed to have recognized me, she was smiling brightly. I watched her make her way over as Hayden placed a cocktail on the bar in front of me.

"Oh Hikari this is Selena our new dancer." He said as way of introduction and I reached to take a sip of my drink.

"We've met before Hayden." Selena giggled, "Check it out Hikari, I've finally found a place to dance!" she beamed at me happily and I did my best to return her smile. I wanted to be happy for her, I did. It's just I couldn't help but want to blame her for all of the trouble I was going through. It was just hard to see her so happy when I was feeling so miserable.

"Good for you Selena," I said in what I hoped was a warm tone, "I'm so happy you can dance to your heart's content!"

Selena squealed with excitement in response, "I know right?" she said happily, 'I never would have thought it'd happen this fast! I should have come to the mainland ages ago."

I took a large swallow of my cocktail to avoid having to say anything. A prickly sort of feeling was coming over me.

"Say umm Hikari?" Selena asked suddenly becoming uncharacteristically shy, "I know it's a lot to ask but, could you maybe deliver this letter to my parents?" she asked pulling out and handing me an envelope.

_You have got to be kidding me…_

Just then Hayden piped in, "Please Hikari." He pleaded on her behalf, "Ease her parents worry by letting them know she's fine." As she spoke to me he glanced across the room over to where Kathy was waiting tables arguing with Luke about whether or not he'd had too many tonight. I could understand his thinking, Selena and Kathy were both right around my age and if had been Kathy who had run away and he who was desperately waiting for news he'd want someone to send back word right away.

I sighed inwardly "Sure I'll take it to Toucan Island." I said taking the letter from Selena's hands into my own with a smile.

"Really?" Selena asked eyes wide with gratitude. I nodded taking another sip of my cocktail. "Thanks a million Hikari, I owe you one!"

I waved her thanks away saying it was nothing and Selena eventually made her way back over to the stage to begin dancing again. I gulped down what little was left of my cocktail and shoved Selena's letter into my rucksack. The truth was I was not looking forward to going back to the place of my defeat but at least it would give me a distraction and an excuse to stay away from any real kind of work for a little while longer. In the end that's all I really wanted, a distraction and this letter was the perfect excuse.

I was staring glumly at the bottom of my glass debating on whether or not to order another one when Kathy came up next to me at the bar. "Hayden I need two grapes and a coconut cocktail." She called behind the bar and Hayden just waved his hand in response. "Hey Hikari, it's a treat to see you here." She said cheerily. Then she heaved a tired sigh and leaned against the bar, "I swear those guys become a bigger and bigger handful each night. I suppose it's the new dancer that's got them all riled up, Luke especially. Just look at the idiot."

I turned around behind me to see Luke boisterously drunk nearly falling out of his seat.

"See what I mean?" she laughed, "But then there's you sitting here all alone drinking quietly, if you're going to come out and have a drink you might as well enjoy yourself a little." She said slapping me hardily on the back. She gave me a playful wink and I smiled good humoredly at her.

"Shouldn't you be taking some orders or something?" came a sarcastic voice from the kitchen and Kathy and I both looked over at Chase and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Cheering up customers is part of my job too." Kathy snapped ticking out her tongue at the eternally cranky Chase before turning around and making her back over to some of the other customers.

"She annoys me when she does that,' he said looking at me, "Sometimes people just don't want to have a good time."

I never thought the day would come when I would feel some affinity with the most sarcastic, harsh, and unhumorous, person in Castanet but here it was. "She was only trying to help." I said understandingly.

Chase raised his eyebrows, "And you do feel any better thanks to it?" he asked critically.

"Not really." I admitted, "But it was nice of her to try."

Chase shrugged his shoulders and went back to his cooking leaving me alone with my empty glass. Well this was a perfectly rotten mood I was in. I'd even just tried to out grump the grump. Kathy was right; if I didn't come here to enjoy myself what did I come here for?

"Would you like another drink?" Hayden asked pulling me from my thoughts.

"No I think I'll head home," I said pulling out some money and handing it to Hayden, "I want to get an early start for Toucan Island tomorrow.

* * *

Early the next morning after watering the crops and tending to the animals Finn and I crept through the still mostly sleeping town and made our way over to the docks. Pascal was nowhere to be found so I took a seat and dangled my feet over the edge looking out over the water watching as the sun lazily came up over the horizon. Perhaps I'd gotten up too early, but I couldn't help it. I'd tossed and turned all night struggling to get some sleep. It was actually a relief to finally get out of bed this morning.

"What do you suppose this letter we're delivering says anyway?" I asked the still drowsy Finn.

"It probably says the she is doing fine and is happy." Finn said rubbing his eyes; I'd kept him up last night with all my tossing and turning. I'd actually had to wake him up this morning, his surprise had been priceless.

"How dull." I sighed glumly, "It'd be more exciting if the letter said something more interesting but you're probably right."

My strange mood from yesterday had carried over to the morning as I gazed out at the rising sun I felt perfectly sour. 400g down the drain to deliver a perfectly boring letter to the very family responsible for my inability to move forward. Maybe I'd get lucky and a shark would eat me before I got there. That particularly melodramatic thought suited me just then and I continued to dwell on it until I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. I looked up to find Toby making his way down the dock.

Toby and I didn't talk much so I gave him a polite wave and he nodded kindly in response and we both went back to what it was we were doing. Funny, I had never pegged him as an early riser but when I thought about it made more sense that he was always napping in the afternoons. I know I often wanted to take naps in the afternoon after having to wake up early.

It wasn't long after that when Pascal came walking up to the ship humming happily to himself. I crawled to my feet and went to meet him. "Good morning." I called out to him.

"Well hello there Hikari!" Pascal responded jubilantly, "Good morning to you too. What brings you out on the docks so early this morning?"

"Actually I was wondering if you'd take me to Toucan Island." I said handing him my ticket.

"Going back so soon?' Pascal asked taking the ticket from my hands, "Liked it so much you couldn't stay away huh?" he teased.

"Actually I'm going to deliver a letter." I told him waving Selena's letter in front of him, "I'm helping parents get in contact with their run away daughter. It seems I'm in the business of bringing family's together these days." I said sarcastically.

Pascal laughed and began making his way onto the boat, "Well we best be setting out then hadn't we?" he said motioning for me to follow, "Wouldn't want to keep those anxious parents waiting would we?"

I quickly scuttled up onto the ship behind him and settled into the same seat I had last time, "Thanks Pascal."

"No need to thank me miss," he said modestly, "It's my job after all." And he gave me a grin.

It seemed to take longer than it had the last time to get to the island. I stared blankly out at the crashing waves thinking of nothing in particular. Or more I was struggling to keep my mind blank, I didn't want to think of anything right now I just wanted to sit there and exist, nothing more. Still thoughts of the bells and the witch always seemed to creep into my thoughts making me feel increasingly guilty causing my mood to continually worsen. Why should I have to feel guilty? It was like I hadn't tried. I furrowed my brows and frowned sternly at the water.

I was so busy battling my own thoughts I almost didn't notice when we approached the island. "Hikari, we're almost there." Finn said pulling my away from my thoughts, "Are you ok? You seem kind of angry." He asked looking frightened.

I made an effort to drop my scowl and gave him a small smile, "I'm sorry Finn, was I scary?" I asked gently. The tiny sprite nodded. "Don't worry I'm not angry at you, I was just thinking unpleasant thoughts is all."

Finn looked at me curiously as if to ask for further explanation but I just smiled at him and offered no response. Soon after the boat docked and Finn and I made our way onto the Island. It was just as lush and beautiful as it had been just a few days before but somehow it seemed gloomier to me. Perhaps it was my own feelings being projected on to the place after all the last time I'd been here I was full of hope and excitement and today I just moved with grim resignation.

It was still too early for the inn to be open so I decided to walk around the Island and gather what I could find. There were slim picking as I'd only just gone through a few days before but I did find a few things to take back with me. After that I dropped my fishing line into the water and just waited for time to pass. I wasn't particularly interested in catching anything but it seemed like a better idea than just waiting around doing nothing. I sat down on the beach and listlessly watched my bobber dance on the waves. Finn settled in on the ground beside me and began to doze. We were quite the low energy pair.

I would hand the letter over to Samson and Sue and then what? Maybe they'd be so happy they'd let me buy some seeds? But I was pretty sure Hibiscus flowers only grew in summer, would there be time to grow the flower before fall hit? There were only a few days left after all. A whole year of sitting around and waiting didn't sound appealing to me at all. _Stop that!_ I scolded myself mentally, I was thinking about it again. I sighed, it wasn't any use. Even if I wanted to give up and wash my hands of this for a while my mind wouldn't let me. The harder I tried to just forget about all of it the more my thoughts wandered over to the subject.

I pulled my line from the water; no bites, seemed even the fish just weren't enthusiastic today. Well I figured I'd probably killed enough time so I gently nudged the dozing Finn and got up to make my way over to Pineapple Inn. I walked through the door and listened to the chimes. Samson was behind the counter and Sue was over on the other side of the room. They both looked as gloomy as I felt. It was understandable; their daughter had up and disappeared without any word after all.

"Good morning." I said awkwardly, "I came to bring you a letter from Selena."

Sue snapped her head to look at me, instantly animated by my words. "What?" She exclaimed, "A letter from our run away daughter?! Have you seen her? Is she ok? Is she coming home?"

"Uh maybe you should just read her letter first." I said helplessly handing the envelope over to Sue who was eyeing me suspiciously as if I had been the one to take her daughter away.

"Come now Sue," Samson broke in making his way over to the two of us, "What does it say?"

Sue opened the letter carefully and then read it out loud for Samson to hear. "Dear Mom and Dad," she started out, "I'm sorry for running away but don't worry. I got a job dancing at the town bar. The owner is very nice. See you soon! Love, Selena."

It was shorter than I'd imagined, her explanation was so none descript I was sure this letter would only make her parents worry more rather than put them at ease. I was beginning to understand Selena a little bit; she could be as compulsive as a child.

"It sounds like she's doing well…" Samson said awkwardly and I could tell he was hoping not to upset Sue.

It was no use Sue began to sob, "I'm still worried about her!" she cried unhappily.

I couldn't just stand there without offering them some reassurance of my own. "I know the bar where she's working and Hayden, the man who owns it, is a good guy. His daughter Kathy is about the same age as Selena I'm sure he'll keep an eye on her." I said trying to offer some solace, "The people of Castanet are all good people. I only just moved there at the start of last season and they all welcomed me happily, if she had to start on her own somewhere she couldn't have picked a better town. They'll do what they can to help her if she needs it there." I smiled, "It's not like this island paradise of yours, but it's one of the best places in the world to live."

Sue continued to sob but she seemed less hysterical now. Samson hugged his wife gently and spoke softly to her, "She had to leave the nest someday." He told her quietly, "We'll just have to hope that we raised her well."

Sue straightened herself and wiped away her tears. "You're right." She nodded.

Samson turned his attention to me then, "It sounds like Selena is doing just fine." He said cheerfully, "That's a relief to hear, thank you Hikari."

I blushed a little at his honest thanks, after all I had just used the errand as an excuse to run away, "I didn't do anything all that special," I said lamely, "I just brought you the letter like Selena asked."

Samson gave me a look that told me that wasn't all I had done for them. I guess my impromptu speech really had put them more at ease. "Well here's a gift for that letter." He said meaningfully and pulled out a red flower, "This is the lovely flower of Toucan Island, the hibiscus flower."

My jaw dropped, at last, the flower I'd so long been seeking. I happily accepted the flower and gave my thanks eyes never venturing from the so hard earned blossom.

"No Hikari. Thank you." Samson said happily.

I couldn't believe my good fortune, after all of that, he just gave it to me. I didn't even have to pay for it or grow it or anything! Right here in my hands was the hibiscus flower. I just stared at it awhile. All that work, all those twists and turns, all for this silly little flower. I had to wonder what was so special about this flower in particular that it had to be a hibiscus flower for the wizard's potion. Still, an over whelming sense of relief came over me as I held that silly flower in my hands. I'd finally done it; I now had all the ingredients I needed to get the wizard to cure the witch.

There was no time for delay, I immediately walked out of the inn and over to where Pascal was waiting. I was going to hurry back to castanet as quickly as I could and at last get the green bell from that troublesome witch!


	6. Chapter 6

_**Willow here;**_

_Sorry for the late release (I feel like I'm always apologizing here) things got crazy this week. Also I'd like to take a moment and thank everyone for the reviews you've given, it always makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I see that someone has enjoyed my work. Thanks guys your comments keep me going! _-^_^-_ That being said if there's anything you don't like please tell me, I won't get any better if you don't. I hope you enjoy!_

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

I woke up with a terrible sense of dread. Something, though I could not say with any certainty what, was going to happen. It nagged at me all morning as I prepared myself some coffee and sat absently at my desk leaving me feeling agitated and restless. I reached for a book to calm my nerves hoping for a distraction so I could ignore this foreboding feeling but I found I could not concentrate on the pages. My mind would wander and the feeling of dread was ever present at the back of my mind.

After a while I gave up on the book and set it back down on the desk. By doing so I disturbed a pile of papers and sent them flying all over the floor. I heaved a large sigh, I had let things get too cluttered lately. I moved to pick them up and noted that most of them were star charts from last autumn. They would be useful in the coming weeks. I gathered them up, made my way over to the telescope and set them down. So the summer was almost over, it had been a very quiet summer this year I actually managed get things done this year.

I glanced down at my already empty mug. Well, not entirely quiet. How odd that this fact didn't not bother me much. In fact a vague sense of amusement came over me whenever I pictured her coming through the door, a nervous and slightly flustered expression on her face. I still wasn't sure what she had been coming for, she never did stay long enough to ask anything. I caught myself staring at my door, she hadn't been by for several days now. The last time she came she had looked upset, I couldn't help but wonder what had happened…..And the foreboding feeling returned to my thoughts….

I bristled, returning my focus to more important things. I had fallen asleep while researching something in one of my books last night and it was best I finished before the seasons changed on me in the next few days or I'd have to wait another year before I could test my theories. I went back over to my desk and this time grabbed the book stuffed with loose pages and opened it to a page with a piece of paper nearly covered in quickly scrawled. It was barely legible due to the sleep deprived state they were written in. I stared at a few unidentifiable squiggles towards the end one the page and sighed. Well half of these notes were going to be useless. I tiredly pulled out yet another sheet of paper and began copying what notes I could read before looking back over the book to see what parts I could remember reading making the occasional note here and there.

It was frustrating enough to have to do the same work over again but the sense of some ill being on its way made everything even more so. The trouble with knowing that something would happen was that it didn't necessarily give me the power to prevent it. Most of the time I had to just sit and wait it out, it was always off putting even after all these years. I still hadn't fully mastered the art coming to terms with it. I spent most of the morning like this trying in vain to concentrate on anything but the fact that some ill would befall me at some point in the future. When I heard the soft knock at my door I thought I would at last be offered some relief even if only for a brief moment.

That is, until the farm girl came in carrying a Hibiscus flower in her hands a proud and hopeful expression on her face. My heart sank, so it was time to change Vivi back already. This must have been the source of my dread all throughout the morning.

"Hello Wizard." She called cheerily from the doorway, "It took a while but I finally managed to get my hands on a Hibiscus flower!"

I had to keep myself from letting out a high sigh of resignation, "…Do you have the other….ingredients?" I asked blankly.

She nodded firmly, "I've got the butter and corn meal in my rucksack." She said enthusiastically, "I would have put the flower in there too but I was afraid I'd crush it."

I got up and took the flower so she could fish the other two ingredients out of her seeming endless bag it only took her a moment to find what she was looking for and then she handed them over to me.

"Excellent…Now I can make….The potion." I told her without much feeling, "Hold on just a moment." I walked over to my potion table and began to prepare the ingredients.

I knew this was coming, it wasn't like I could have left her as a frog forever even if she hadn't stolen the bell. I would have had to have turned her back eventually and yet I still was hesitant to continue. I made short work of the potion as it was a fairly simple brew. All of my potions were, elaborate concoctions that took days to brew were always Vivi's specialty. I turned and walked back over the farm girl who hadn't moved and inch since I took the ingredients from her. Well I might as well get this over with.

"Okay…" I said to the expecting looking farm girl and tiny sprite before me, "Let's go."

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

I followed the wizard obediently out the door and through town. It felt odd to be with him outside the confines of his solitary. I glanced around curious if anyone was out to see this rare occurrence and wondered how I might explain it later when they came asking. Oddly enough, no one was outside right at that particular moment and we wandered through the streets unhindered and unseen. As we crossed the bridge out of town I began to grow increasingly excited.

All of my hard work was about to pay off, at last I would be able to stand face to face with the witch and hopefully retrieve the bell she'd stolen. I stole a glance at the wizard whose expression was as blank and unreadable as ever. I wasn't sure but he seemed a little off…

We quickly made our way to the entrance of Fugue Forest and I followed behind the wizard who confidently navigated through the winding and confusing forest. I had been here many times before collecting lumber and once to search for the witch but it never ceased to make me uneasy. It wasn't hard to get turned around in this winding and treacherous forest and I always felt like something was watching me from the shadows. Even now I kept glancing over my shoulder as if to catch some evil in the act of staring but always there was nothing there but tree's and rocks.

"This forest is really creepy," Finn said quietly from my shoulder voicing my own thoughts, "Even in daylight it seems gloomy."

"I know," I said with a slight shiver, "I'll never understand how Luke can spend so much time in here." I stared at the back of the Wizard who was only slightly ahead of us and wondered how he could seem so unperturbed in such a place.

As if he could feel me staring the Wizard stopped and looked back at Finn and me, "We're almost…There." He said informed us with his usual lack of expression, "It just….up ahead…"

I nodded and continued on through the creepy forest. Just as the wizard had promised it wasn't long before we had reached the swap and the boardwalk leading up to the witch's unnervingly out of place cute little house. I went on ahead of the Wizard and made for the door after a moment I turned to see if he was following. To my surprise he was just standing there staring vacantly over the house.

"Wizard?" I called out to him hoping that he was alright, "Are you coming?" I tilted my head to the side imploringly, I couldn't find the guts to ask him if he was alright, after all I what did I really know about him? Still something in his demeanor had me worried.

"….Yes" came the absent reply, then he seemed to shake himself and followed me through the door way and into the girlish house.

The pink frog that was the witch was still standing on the coffee table Finn and I had last seen her on and she still seemed as testy as before. The Wizard got right to wok and began placing jars of what I assumed to be the potion around the fuchsia amphibian. Then he appeared to be mulling something over in his mind.

"Is that really the Witch Princess?" I asked doubtfully, it was still hard to believe that a person could actually be turned into a frog. I mean sure he was the wizard and she was the witch but it wasn't like I'd actually seen any magic preformed.

The Wizard did not answer my question but simply nodded in response. He seemed completely focused on the task at hand and my interruption did not appear to be helping. I decided to stay quiet and hold any further questions until after he had finished what we had come out here to do. After a few more moments of thinking and carefully nudging each pot ever so slightly into apparently more favorable positions the wizard stopped to assess his work. Giving a slight nod he stepped back from the table and held his arms out on either side closing his eyes. Soon an almost tangible indigo aura surrounded him.

I then turned my attention to an apprehensive looking frog and noticed that the same aura was surrounding her too. Suddenly I noticed a faint image of what appeared to be some sort of magic circle appear in front of the frog. The circle grew more and more distinct becoming brighter and brighter pulsating with increasing amounts of light until it culminated into an almost blinding white flash. Then with a cloud of glittering sparkles standing there before us in front of the table where a pink frog once was stood a beautiful woman.

Well I couldn't say I'd never seen magic preformed any more….

She had sleek and shining long silver hair and clear amber eyes and she held her self with an elegant almost arrogant demeanor. She was clothed in a black fitted corset-style top and an outrageously puffy pair of striped shorts. On her head she wore a hat eerily similar to the one the frog had worn complete with a strap that tied around her chin in a thick black bow.

Her first reaction was one of joy, she promptly began jumping up and down happily proclaiming, "Yay! I'm back to normal!" and clapped in a sudden burst of emotion. But then her happiness dwindled almost as quickly as it had appeared and her expression turned sour.

I watched her carefully as she folded her arms over her chest and turned to face the wizard. She marched purposefully over to him and got into his face yelling, "What the heck took you so long?!" she shouted angrily.

The sudden outburst caused me to jump slightly. I started at her moment in disbelief but the Wizard simply stood there gazing at her unfazed.

"I was stuck as a frog for FOREVER!" she cried out, stomping her feet and balling her hands into tight fists at her sides, "I had to eat flies, and was all slimly and it was AWFUL!" she exclaimed waving her fist in the air infuriated. She continued to stamp her foot having worked herself into complete hysteria.

It was obvious I had been all but forgotten, all of the Witch Princess' attention and rage focused directly on the. The wizard stared calmly at her and slowly opened his mouth to speak, "Well," he said simply, "I told you not to use that spell…"

I felt myself go white with fear for the wizard as I heard his response, if he was aiming to calm the now beyond angry witch those were the exact words not to use. Indeed I watched with increasing concern as she turned white with pure furry.

"So you left me as a frog to teach me a lesson?" she spat, pure venom in her voice, "That's just," she stammered struggling to find a word in her infuriated state, "just MEAN!" she exclaimed brinking on hysterics.

She was not unlike a small child who had been bullied by the older kids on the playground as wave of emotion crossed her features. She was both livid and hurt all at once and she seemed to be struggling to keep herself together.

"Well," I wizard said flatly staring her directly in the eye, "did it work?"

In response the witch let out a shrill scream of pure agony and frustration. It hurt my ears and part of me wished she wouldn't throw such a juvenile tantrum while in the presence of others. "You make me so mad!" she screamed stomping her foot and shaking her fists once again. "I hate you!" She seethed glaring him down with enough furry to chase demons back to hell. Then as if she had had enough of the entire situation she primly folded her arms over her chest and haughtily stuck her nose in the air and waved her head in the direction of the door. "Get out." She said coldly and seemed to leave no room for debate.

I watched as the wizard merely stared at her silent. It might have just been my imagination but something in his expression seemed to have changed. After a moment he seemed to collect himself and started heading for the door. Scared to incur her wrath by staying I followed after him and closed the door firmly behind me. I wasn't entirely sure of what all I'd just seen, everything happened so quickly but I got the feeling that this sort of altercation was fairly standard for the two of them. I glanced worriedly over at the wizard; nobody like to be told they were hated.

He was quiet for a long time, it wasn't unusual for him but this time his silence seemed different. I always got the feeling that he was quiet simply because he did not feel he had much to say but now it felt more like something was eating at him. "Well," he said suddenly almost startling me, "it looks like our work is done here." He said with a note of finality that seemed to say that I should forget what I'd just seen. Then he added almost as an afterthought, "…See you later….."

I watched his back as he walked away and disappeared into the embrace of those spooky trees of Fugue Forest. He seemed somewhat lonely and dejected as I watched him go. Or maybe that was just my imagination projecting that image onto him.

"Well," I said to Finn after the wizard had disappeared, "We seem to have a knack for being around to witness awkward situations."

Finn nodded eagerly in reply, "It seems like a lot of people are fighting around us lately." He trailed off absently. Then he suddenly gasped eyes growing wide with shock, "Hey wait!" He exclaimed suddenly, "We don't have the green bell! We need to go back and ask the Witch for it!"

I glanced apprehensively at the pink door. She didn't exactly seem to be in the mood for visitors just a moment ago. Still it wasn't like I was prepared to go home empty handed, and most of her rage had been largely pointed at the wizard so maybe she wouldn't feel the need to take it out on me. At least I hoped so. Steeling my courage I went back inside the house and made my way over to the witch who was standing over a large cauldron muttering peevishly to herself.

"Umm excuse me," I called out timidly to her, "Witch Princess?"

She turned on her heel and testily put her hand on her hip with a "humph!" and snapped, "What do you want?"

The force of her tone told me she was not yet calmed down from her episode earlier. Finn became frightened and hid behind my shoulder for protection leaving me alone to deal with the cranky witch. I swallowed hard and began to speak, "Hello," I began awkwardly, "I'm Hikari, I own a small farm outside of town, nice to meet you."

She seemed to be thinking about something when she suddenly clapped her hands together loudly, "Oh! You're that human who helped the wizard!" she exclaimed acting as if it had been days ago instead of minuets.

I nodded in response hoping the association with the clearly despised wizard would not work against me.

She looked me up and down seeming to be mulling something over in her head. "I hate him." She stated firmly and I began to grow worried, "But you seem ok." She said finally. Then her demeanor took on a friendlier tone, "So I'll talk to you. What do you want to know?"

Relief flooded over me she was at least going to listen to me. "Well I'm not sure how to put this so I'll just get right to the point," I fumbled, "do you have the green bell?"

The witch seemed to ponder it a moment as though she were unsure, "Hmmmmm," she said thoughtfully, "Green bell….Well I do have some green stuff."

How could she have taken something so important and not even know for sure if she had it? I was beginning to worry, just what state might I find the bell in?

"Let's take a look." She said ignoring my worried look and walking over into the corner of her house and rummaging through a huge pile of stuff. I watched nervously as she searched. "Is this it?" she asked turning to me holding up a green ball of yarn.

I glanced apprehensively at Finn, was she messing with me? "I don't think so….." I said unsure of what was going on.

"Really?" she asked disbelieving, but turned and began digging through her shelf once again. Neither Finn of I knew what to say, could she really not know what a bell looked like? "Oh!" she exclaimed standing back up and facing me, "then is this it?" she asked presenting a head of spinach.

She couldn't be serious, "No," I said carefully, "That's not it."

The Witch seemed perplexed, "Hmm…. Then it must be this!" she cried diving back into the clutter and looking around again. This time when she stood up I saw instantly that she at last had what I sought. "Is this the green bell?"

I looked at it excitedly, "Yes." I exclaimed happily, "That's it!"

The witch handed the bell over to me disinterested, "Here you can have it," she said, "It was of no use to me at all."

I couldn't help but wonder just what sort of use she had been expecting to get out of the bell anyway. I looked it over quickly and to my relief it seemed to be intact. I had no way of knowing what all magic using entailed and envisioned all sorts of scenarios where in the green bell might have been irreparably damaged possibly harming the sprite sleeping inside. I stowed it away into my rucksack and thanked the witch for her time. She had already returned to her cauldron and paid me no attention. I decided it was best to just slip away unnoticed leaving the Witch Princess to whatever it was she was doing.

Upon walking out the door a sleepy green sprite appeared before Finn and me looking bleary eyed and confused. "Hmm….Is this a dream?" he asked vacantly looking up at Finn and me. His head lobbed back and forth as he seemed to be fighting between being awake or asleep. After a few moments sleep seemed to win out as he sat down and drifted off before us.

"Darren wake up!" Finn called anxiously, "Don't just go back to sleep!"

The green harvest sprite who I guess was called Darren drowsily lifted his eyelids and stared blankly up at Finn. After a moment he seemed to realize what was going on and stood up stretching with a loud yawn. "I guess this is not a dream." He said groggily, "Where am I?"

I smiled at him, all the sprites were pretty cute in their own way.

"This is Fugue forest Darren," Finn explained patiently, "We need you to ring the green bell."

Darren stretched again and let out another yawn, "Well if that's all," he said distantly, "Wake me up again when you get the bell back on its frame." And with that the sleepy green sprite disappeared in a puff of green sparks leaving only his bell behind.

"He must be really tired," I said lamely as I bent down to pick up the precious bell, "You'd think sleeping all this time would leave him eager to get up." I laughed.

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

I sighed heavily as I made my way back through the forest. As always my encounter with Vivi had been draining. She had a flair for the theatrics that she never missed an opportunity to use, and her shrill screaming had given me the beginnings of a headache. All of this reminded me yet again that she was a person best to be avoided whenever possible.

"_I hate you!"_

How many times had she told me that over the years? I'd lost count ages ago, she always saw fit to remind me over and over again of her decided hatred of me. As if she was concerned for the off chance I had forgotten. I could no doubt expect her retaliation for leaving her as a frog within the next few days, Vivi was not the sort to let such things go unpunished. I let out another sigh, perhaps I had let it go too long. I had some hope that a prolonged duration in such an undesirable state might teach her some precaution but only time would tell if she gained anything from the experience at all.

I reached turned the handle of my front door and it easily swung open. I wondered if the farm girl and her tiny companion had managed to retrieve the bell from her yet. Vivi was immensely fond of childish games and practical jokes she was likely to cause trouble just for the entertainment it might bring her. I hoped she didn't give them too much trouble, the farm girl had gone through enough hardships just to cure her. I wasn't sure she could handle too many more setbacks.

I walked into my house and wandered back over to the notes I had been working on before this whole mess started. I sat down at my desk feeling exhaustion take hold of me. At least I had finished with all of the adventures for today, I had made sure to lock the door on my way in so as to prevent any more visitors. I used to always leave my door locked to discourage the townsfolk from visiting frequently and to reduce the chance of anything distracting me from my studies. Lately, however, I had gotten into the habit of leaving it unlocked, and while the occasional person did wander in looking for their fortunes told, I had been left mostly undisturbed.

The reason I had been leaving the door unlocked was obvious; I was waiting to see if that farm girl, Hikari would come through it. I wasn't sure when I had started leaving it unlocked only that I had done so because of her. The time she spent here was always brief, her purpose ever a mystery to me, but I couldn't help but look forward to catching another glimpse of insight each time she walked through that door. I liked to complain to myself that she was a disturbance but the truth was I could have easily stopped her visits anytime by simply turning the lock on my door. But part of me was curious about this strange farm girl who I could never tell what I'd find her doing next. So on a whim I had left my door open on the off chance that she'd come by again.

And she did, more often than not she'd come in loudly announcing her presence, usually with a thermos in hand. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a regular visitor at my doorstep, perhaps never. As a general rule people tend to avoid Wizards. Sometimes the people of Castanet would all but forget I was there. Whenever one wanted a fortune told on some whim or was faced with a burning question with no discernable answer they would find themselves on my doorstep, in the old days when feats of magic were required they'd knock at my door, but once the service was performed and their needs fulfilled they would always return to their lives leaving me to carry out my solitary existence in peace. This was the way things were done, the way it had always been but now….

Now for perhaps the first time in my long life time someone was coming to my door with no question to ask and no clear need to fulfill. It was strange and I was still trying to puzzle out exactly why she was doing it. She really was such an odd girl and sometimes her reasons completely escaped me but I was determined to fit the pieces together. Slowly I was gaining more and more insight and I was sure in time I'd finally come to understand just what she was thinking. It had been a long time since something other than magic or stars had caught my interest and I was finding I didn't mind the change of pace.

I gazed absently at my front door. I'd be sure to unlock it again in the morning….


	7. Chapter 7

**_Willow here; _**_Well I'm back after an extended absence! Writer's block is no one's friend but it has been my constant companion these few months. I can't tell you how many times I tried to come back to this only to freeze up and end up nowhere. But I went on vacation to my family's nice quiet lake house last week and like someone waving a magic wand suddenly writing was so hard anymore. There will be more where this came from, I've already started chapter 8 things are starting to get exciting in Castanet. I'm really starting to fall in love with this story, I hope you are too even if only a little. -^_^-_

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

"That scared me!" I exclaimed making my way out of the windmill.

"You think it scared you?" Finn whined, "I thought I'd DIE I was so scared!"

I fought back a giggle. Finn and I had just returned from ringing the green bell, Darren's version of ringing his bell had included actually falling over on his back in a sleepy fashion. I glanced up to see the mill slowly turning in the newfound breeze. It had gone well, the only thing of concern was what happened directly after the bell was rung. Gill suddenly came up to find me standing there in front of the newly returned bell. I hadn't remembered it until now but he'd been there after I rang the blue bell too. Of all the people in Castanet I was fairly certain Gill was the closest one to discovering my little quest.

He asked me if I'd been the one to return the bell and Finn feeling quite pleased with our accomplishment jokingly had said, "I bet he'd be surprised if we told him what it took to get that bell."

While I was stifling a giggle, Finn flew out from behind me. At that very moment Gill's eyes locked on to the exact place Finn was hovering. "Huh?"

I froze and Finn exclaimed with shock, "Another human who can see me?!"

But Gill put our immediate fears to rest when he added, "I thought I saw something..."

Though our immediate fears were quieted they were soon replaced with new, more unnerving ones. Whether it had been clearly or not Gill had almost managed to see Finn, a harvest sprite that supposedly only I could see. What did this mean? Was my ability to see Finn not nearly as special as I'd been lead to believe? With time would Gill be able to see Finn too?

"Has that ever happened before?" I asked Finn suddenly worried, "A human almost seeing you?"

"Until today Hikari, you're the only human who's ever seen me in any way." Finn said defensively.

I was more than a little worried, until now Gill's suspicions about my connection to the bells hadn't really concerned me all that much since, in truth, it wasn't particularly important to me that it be kept secret. The part I was worried about leaking out, the information I so desperately wanted to spare people the burden of, was that the goddess tree was dying and with it our home and all of us. The bells were just temporary fixes that would last a few years but unless something was done soon about the tree Castanet would eventually fade away, become barren and we'd all have no choice but to leave. I hadn't been concerned about the practical business minded Gill finding out about that part because that secret was so carefully shrouded in the magical part of the world that seemingly only I could see.

But now it seemed that perhaps Gill's world was not so small after all. I was going to have to be more careful. I'd be lying if I said some part of me didn't just want to remain special. After all my only qualification had been the fact that I could see Finn at all. If someone else should arise who could do the same might they be deemed more capable? It was purely selfish but I didn't want to give my special task to anyone. Sure it had caused me a lot of troubles and building up my farm had been twice as hard trying to finance this endeavor but I'd come so far already, I wanted to see it through.

I threw a worried glace at Finn who was too distracted with his own private scare to see. Would he leave if someone else was found? I shivered at the sudden and unpleasant thought of loneliness. I had to be more careful.

"Hikari?" Finn called suddenly a note of worry in his voice, "Are you ok?"

I realized suddenly that I had my arms wrapped around myself. I quickly recovered and gave Finn a smile, "It's a little colder out today than it's been." I told him, "Autumn is really on its way I guess."

* * *

**Wizard's PoV**

I tore frantically through the mass of papers and books that cluttered the entirety of my home. I forcefully yanked open every drawer and cabinet pulling each one out, sifting through all the contents there in, throwing things needlessly around, and slammed each loudly shut.

_Not here, not there, __**where**__did I put it? _I asked myself, running around in a state of panic. I couldn't bring myself to believe I'd simply lost it, after all this wasn't the sort of thing one should casually lose. _And yet…. _I thought straightening up and taking a look around my now destroyed house. I'd looked literally everywhere even the impossible locations and it had not turned up. Letting my eyes wander over the mountains of clutter that spanned the entirety of the room I was forced to face the fact that it was not here in this house.

What could have happened to it? Could this be the retaliation from Vivi I had been expecting? No even in her most childish fit she'd know better than to mess with another practitioner's medium. Certain things just simply weren't done. Still, better in her hands than an unwitting mortal's. I shuddered to think what could happen if some poor fool started to tap that thing's power. How could it even have left the house? It's not like I took it with me when I went places and it wasn't like I'd been robbed recently. Still it wasn't here, I must have been carless at some point.

I stared blankly over the mess before me unsure of what to do next, the usual means for finding lost objects was to consult my crystal ball. Only that was precisely the item I'd lost. I didn't have time to be unsure, I had to find it before someone else did, left on its own with the power of the crystal unchecked there was no telling the havoc that could befall Castanet. That object could even turn the trained mind of a magic user mad. Before it had come into my possession it had belonged to a powerful but ambitious witch who eventually lost her mind and ultimately her life to the crystal ball. I simply had to find it first.

I was so engrossed in my fears of what travesty might befall me I almost didn't notice the presence of two visitors. I turned to see the farm girl and her tiny orange companion wearing expressions of confusion mixed with concern. Obviously they were unsure of what to make of the state they had found my house in.

"What is it…?" I asked feeling irritated, I did not want to be found in this sort of situation, "I'm… busy right now."

She flinched slightly at my tone but the look of concern persisted, "I'm sorry," she said politely, "I knocked…..But well I guess you didn't hear and I just sort of figured it'd be ok if I came in. Is everything ok?"

"I'm…..fine." I said darkly. I felt like a child taking my frustration out on her but I really didn't want to deal with anyone right at that moment, "I just… have some matters….to attend to."

"I understand." She said quietly looking dejected, "I'll come back another time then…"

The guilt came swiftly, I had not meant to be so harsh with her, after all she'd only asked if I was ok. I was sure if I had been willing to she would have calmly listened to my troubles. I wondered, if I were to ask for her assistance; would she grant it? The truth was I could have used an extra set of hands looking now, time was of the essence and two people could cover more ground than one. I struggled with it for a moment was I really comfortable asking this strange farm girl to help me?

She turned to go and there was no time to contemplate it further, "Wait….." I called out to stop her and she quickly turned to face me again eyes expectant, "I have….something to ask…"

Her eyebrows arched slightly and she gave me a look that seem to say "Yes?"

I floundered a moment not sure what exactly what to say next, having not truly needed the help of another in so long I wasn't exactly sure how to go about it. She continued to look at me expectantly and at last I let out a sigh, "…..Do you know of my crystal ball?" I asked finally, "A round ball about this size…" I couldn't keep back another sigh, "It's…very important…"

She shook her head, confused, "I've never seen your crystal ball before Wizard," she told me, "Maya told me you use one once but I've never bothered to look for it. Did you lose it?"

"I don't know where it is….." I admitted, "I must have…" I trailed off still unsure of how this terrible situation came about, "dropped it….." I said finally. Though I knew that it was not possible as I never took something so potentially dangerous out of the house.

"That's not good." She said suddenly, "Don't you use that to give people fortunes? What'll you do without it?"

I held back a contemptuous scoff; that was hardly the issue here. Why if that were the only problem I might never bother to find the thing, ah but it made for an easy explanation to give. Better she not learn the dangers of the situation if she didn't have to.

"Don't worry Wizard," she said brightly, "Finn and I will keep an eye out for it. The two of us are always travelling all over Castanet. I'm sure we'll find it!" She gave me a warm smile and turned for the door, "If we find it we will let you know ok Wizard? Bye!" And with a light wave she'd dashed out the door before I could even remember that saying thank you in such situations was probably appropriate.

So without my really having asked for it, she'd agreed to help me. How strange, I wondered if this was what friendship was like. It'd been so many years I couldn't remember, Vivi and I had been friends once, and at the end my master had been more friend than mentor… But both of those had been so terribly long ago I strained to remember all of the mannerisms and subtleties that had gone with that kind of relationship. Was I becoming friends with the farm girl?

I stared out over the disaster zone before me. Well first thing was first, I needed to take care of this before I did anything else…

* * *

**Hikari's PoV**

We had been all over Castanet but Finn and I had seen no traces of the elusive crystal ball. I had searched every bush and every crevice I came across in hope of discovering it but all had been in vain. I hadn't expected it to be so hard to find, after all just how hard could it be to miss something as out of place as a crystal ball?

"I really want to find it." I said unwittingly voicing my thoughts.

"Don't give up Hikari!" Finn said encouragingly, "I'm sure we'll find it we just have to keep looking!"

"I guess you're right," I agreed with a sigh, "I think we need to change tactics."

The tiny orange sprite cocked his head curiously to one side, "What did you have in mind?" he asked

"Well the way I figure it is this," I said suddenly coming to the realization even as I was explaining it, "We've looked all over the island so I think we can rule out that it's lying around somewhere out in the open waiting for someone to find it. The Wizard said he dropped it so it stands to reason that if the crystal ball was outside it'd be somewhere along the road and we would have found it by now."

Fin looked at me unsure of what point I was getting at, "So that means?" he asked imploringly tilting his head to the other side.

"I think it's safe to assume that somebody else has found it first," I said an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction coming over me as more and more of the puzzle began to fit in my mind, "Which means they probably carried it off with them and took it home. So continuing the search outside is futile, we should start asking if anyone's seen anything instead. I doubt the wizard will be doing it and it's probably the fastest way to find what we're looking for."

"You're so smart Hikari!" Finn cheered exuberantly, "Where do you want to start?"

I stopped and thought about it a moment, "Let's start in town," I said finally, "That's where the crystal ball is most likely to turn up, if we don't find any clues we and can expand the search from there."

We started with the camera shop, Simon hadn't seen anything like what I described but he had promised to keep an eye out. Candace was a little confused as to why I was looking for one but she told me she hadn't seen one. Luna just shouted that if I didn't have any intention on buying any clothes then I should get out of the way and Shelly just smiled amiably as the whole scene unfolded. I asked Jin and Irene but I think they just thought I was crazy.

As I walked out the door of the clinic dodging questions about my overall health, if I had been getting enough sleep I looked over to the Inn. I could use a mug of tea about now. Who knew, Maya was always the sort to pick up strange and meaningless things maybe she'd seen the crystal ball. I wearily dragged my feet over to the door. Calvin was idly strumming his guitar out front and he sent a friendly nod in my direction.

I would have asked him if he'd seen a crystal ball but I somehow felt that it would open some long winded discussion about ancient culture's associations with crystals and the spiritual realms or something of that nature. I was in no mood for the history lesson so I decided to catch him on my way back. It wasn't that I didn't like Calvin but his whole world traveler vibe didn't do much to interest me and sometimes conversations with him got a bit dull.

I walked through the door and knew immediately that something was off. There seemed to be something kind of heavy in the atmosphere making me wonder if some sort of tragedy had just occurred. None the less everyone inside was acting much as they normally did, Yolanda was busily cooking in the kitchen as Maya hovered hungrily just outside awaiting whatever tasty snacks might come out, and Jake absently sat behind the register.

Well not everyone was their usual selves, Colleen nervously fidgeted. Curious, I casually approached her wondering if she too had picked up on the odd dark feeling clinging to the shadows of The Ocarina Inn. Colleen seemed troubled as if she had discovered some unbearable truth but was doing her best to continue normally in spite of it. I gave her an inquiring glance and apparently eager for a friendly ear, she jumped on the chance to have a conversation.

"Oh Hikari, how are you dear?" She said distractedly.

"I'm doing ok, what about you Colleen?" I asked in a friendly manner. "You seem it a bit tense."

She cast a worried glance over to where Jake was standing, then she lent in close and spoke in a lower tone, "Hikari, have you noticed anything weird lately?" She asked me her eyes gleaming with anticipation.

I took a quick glance around the room, wondering if this strange feeling was more than just my imagination. "I'm not sure…" I said carefully, I didn't want to speak my fears in case it was not in fact what Colleen was thinking about.

"Oh really?" She asked seeming a bit disappointed, "Well my husband has been acting very strange. I'm really starting to worry." Then she looked as though she was struck with an idea, she turned her hopeful gaze toward me and I began to feel as though I'd been caught in some kind of trap. "Hikari could you talk to him for me? Maybe get some kind of idea of what's going on with him?"

I looked apprehensively in the direction of Jake and opened my mouth to refuse but Colleen interrupted me by begging me to help her out, "Please," she pleaded, "I'd talk to him myself but he keeps acting so strange when I'm around, I'm too embarrassed to ask anyone in my family, please Hikari you're the only one I can count on."

Finally I relented and told her I'd go over and talk to him, she thanked me profusely and made my way over to the other side of the Inn. Jake was standing lazily around looking, as he always did, as though he had nothing to do. I'd often wondered how well an Inn could really do in a place like Harmonica Town it wasn't like we had a very large tourist market and people weren't exactly flocking to our streets on business. I approached quietly and Jake looked and offered me a friendly smile.

"Hey there Jake." I said in response, "How's life been treating you?"

"I've been alright, what about you Hikari? Still keeping up with the work running that ranch all by yourself?" Jake asked conversationally.

"I do ok," I answered, "It's a lot of hard work and I'm still getting the hang of some of it but I just keep putting my all into it and the results aren't too bad."

Jake raised his eyebrows suddenly, "Well it's nice that you've had so much free time." He said pointedly.

I took a step back, "Excuse me?" I asked confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well you know I'm just saying that it's nice that you seem to have the time to go around and talk to everyone in town." Jake said in a feigned tone of innocence, "I mean I'd think that little ranch of yours would be taking up all of your time."

"Yes, well," I stammered wanting to get off the subject at hand, what did Jake know of my comings and goings around town? As far as I knew he hardly ever left the inn. "Any way Jake, Colleen is a little worried about you, she says you've been acting strange." I decided not to beat around the bush, talking with Jake was making me unusually uncomfortable like he was prying into things I didn't want inspected. I'd known this feeling from somewhere.

Jake suddenly looked genuinely concerned, "My wife thinks I've been acting strange?" he said thoughtfully, "Hmmmm….But I've just tried to give her everything she wants as soon as she thinks of it…." He muttered worriedly under his breath.

Something about his words unsettled me like there was more to what was going on than just a doting husband trying to grant his wife's wishes. "What do you mean?" I asked carefully.

"Oh it's easy now that I can read her mind!" Jake boasted happily.

"W-what?" I stammered, "How can you read her mind?"

"How can I read her mind she asks," Jake responded mimicking me, he certainly wasn't his usual self, "Oh it's just a skill that I….picked up somewhere." He said airily. "Any way it's nothing for you to be concerned about." He said snapping into a dismissive attitude. He seemed unreasonably defensive, "Anyway I'm closing ten tonight so don't come around after that!"

He then started walking away muttering to himself in whispers too low for me to hear. I stared after him in a state of shock, had he lost his mind? I'd never seen him act that way before, no wonder Colleen was worried.

"Jake can read Colleen's mind?" Finn mused quietly from above my right shoulder, "You don't think he's….You know…" His voice trailed off as if he were afraid to say what he was thinking.

"Using the crystal ball?" I finished for him in a whisper. I once again noted the dark feeling hanging around the room, "I hope that's the only thing going on around here." I told Finn apprehensively.

* * *

After leaving the Inn Finn and I went over to Hamilton and Gill's house. I had decided after the whole scare by the windmill that it might be a good idea to keep an eye on Gill. If there was a chance he could figure out what was going on here in Castanet I wanted to make sure I was around to help prevent it. Sort of all out stalking him, the most effective way I could think of doing that was simply by getting to know him better and becoming friends. Gill seemed like a no nonsense practical down to earth guy. I was sure we could get along if we took the time to become friends…..At least I _hoped_.

I knocked casually on the front door. I'd pretty much gotten used to dropping by peoples houses unannounced, it seemed to simply be the way things were done here in this tiny community. No one bothered to make special plans or call first, everyone was like family showing up on each other's doorsteps for no other reason than to have a friendly chat. I was beginning to love that homey atmosphere.

I didn't wait long before the door swung open and a very businesslike Gill was standing behind it. His eye brows arched slightly as he looked at me, "Can I help you?" He asked skeptically.

I flashed him a bright smile "Good after noon Gill," I said cheerily, "I just thought I'd drop by to say hi. Can I come in?"

Gill looked at me suspiciously as if he were waiting for the punch line to this really bad joke.

"I'll only stay a minute." I promised

"Very well." He said finally relenting and backing out of the doorway so I could enter.

I walked through the door with Finn close behind. I'd been in their house a few times before to meet with Hamilton for various things concerning the ranch so I had a fairly good understanding of what was where. Gill walked in from behind me and sat down at the large square table in the middle of the room. A book sat open in front of him and it was obvious I'd interrupted him.

"So what is it Hikari?" Gill asked with a sigh, "Are you looking for something?"

"Nothing much," I replied sitting down easily into the chair across from him. Though I was doing my best to appear casual, on the inside I was scrambling for something, anything to use to get rid of the awkwardness of this conversation, after all who comes into a person's house without _some _sort of business there? Suddenly it hit me. "I was just hoping to get some advice." I said finally.

"Advice?" Gill asked surprised, "Advice on what?"

"Well you see things have been really tight on the ranch," I explained, "and I've been pouring over the numbers but I just can't figure out how to get any more profit out of what I have available to me right now and I hear from Hamilton that you're the one who handles all the finances of the town hall." I explained, "I figure if you can keep a whole town running with things as tough as they are right now you would probably have a few helpful pointers on how to manage my funds."

There was a glint in Gills eyes as he took on a haughty expression, "I guess I could take some time out of my busy schedule to help you out." He said arrogantly, "Since you went so far as to ask me and all."

I gave him an enthusiastic grin, in truth I was actually excited about having someone else to go over the numbers with. Few people understood the thrill I got from finding a way to make more money and to make my ranch bigger, more efficient and closer to the ranch of my dreams. Sometimes I'd lie awake at night just thinking about all I could to make things better and finally somebody was willing to listen to me without having their eyes glaze over slowly as I put them to sleep. Sure I'd have to figure some way to explain the amount of gold that was being spent on the quest to ring the bells but I was sure could find something to cover it up.

Gill and I spent the next few hours discussing business strategies while Finn, who found the whole conversation to be wildly over his head dozed lazily on the table. Next thing I knew the sun had already set and if I didn't leave soon I wasn't going to be able to stop back over at the inn to check on Jake. I got up suddenly explaining to Gill that I had to go.

"I'll definitely be back with my ledger sometime." I promised as I walked out the door, "It'd be nice to see if you can put your theories into practice." I said light heartedly hoping to ruffle Gill's feathers a little bit.

I was not disappointed as he shot back indignantly, "Just remember to actually bring it Hikari."

I giggled a little as I ran out the door, he had reminded me a little of Luna just now. I always got such a mischievous pleasure out of annoying Luna and it appeared Gill was just as easily bothered. I skipped happily away from the door making my way over to the Ocarina Inn. It was nearly ten now and after so blatantly being told to stay away at such a specific time I knew something had to be going on. I didn't relish the thought of dealing with Jake again but I knew I would have to if I was ever going to get to the bottom of this.

Quietly I crept over to the front door and thanked my good fortune when I found it unlocked. You'd think that if you didn't want people poking around you'd lock the door. I slowly pushed the door open and stepped into the large front room only to find it devoid of all signs of life. Well it was late after all, everyone had probably retired into their rooms for the night. It occurred to me that I didn't know who used what rooms in the back, I'd only ever been here during the day and only to the back rooms but once. Still it seemed to me that the heavy atmosphere hanging in the air here was coming from somewhere back there.

Once in the back hallway I was sure something was off, it seemed to me something really bad was happening somewhere nearby. It was like something very vast and very powerful existed in the very air I was breathing, I could almost feel it slide into my throat and lungs as I inhaled and refuse to crawl back out as I exhaled. I coughed as if to dislodge whatever it was from my chest. Had it been like this back here when I'd been up front earlier or was it getting worse?

Finn clung woozily to my shoulder, "Hikari, the air is too thick, and I don't like it." He complained meekly, "It's scary."

I gave him a sympathetic look, "I know Finn, but I have to see what's going on." I told him sadly, "You can wait outside if it's easier on you."

The little sprite shook his head insistently, "No!" he said firmly, "I go where you go."

I smiled gratefully, in times like these he was my courage. "Ok," I said, "but if it gets to be too much for you go ahead and leave before me." I warned, "I think it's coming from that room over there." I said pointing to the last door to the left.

Finn nodded his agreement and the two of us made our way over to the door preparing ourselves for whatever might be behind it. Locking eyes with Finn I firmly griped the handle on the door and after a small nod from him I turned the handle and flung the door open bracing myself for whatever horrors might befall us at any moment….

…All was quiet in the room, the air was once again breathable. The differences between it and the hall outside were like night and day. Jake was standing hunched over something in the corner completely oblivious to my presence in the room. I rushed over to him to see what the matter was but as I got closer I noticed something that made me take a step back. Emanating from Jake was a dark indigo aura that seemed to choke the air around him. When I looked at the thing it gave me the sensation of staring out into an empty place in space, or an extremely deep chasm in the ocean, like staring out into an unfathomable incomprehensibly vast darkness that would swallow me whole in an instant. It made the hair on my neck stand on end and goose bumps break out all over my flesh.

"Hikari?" Finn called out to me worriedly drawing me out of that darkness. I forced myself to look away concentrating my gaze on other things, slowly pulling my mind out of that unbearable darkness.

"Yes..." I heard Jake mutter to himself triumphantly, "I can see everyone now…..I can read _everyone's _mind!"

Unable to keep my eyes away I looked back over at Jake to see that he had turned around and was now facing Finn and I and there, sitting glowing in Jake's hands, was a dark and menacing looking crystal ball. I couldn't believe it, all this caused by one little item. Why had the wizard been keeping something so dangerous around where just about anyone could reach out and touch it?

"It's the crystal ball!" Finn exclaimed frantically, "Hikari, Jake must be using the crystal ball!"

Normally I would have made a sarcastic comment about being able to see that for myself but there was something about the mad broken look in Jake's eyes that kept me from speaking thoughtlessly. He no longer looked like the friendly Inn keep I had always known him to be, that man was gone. He was something twisted and broken, wild and there was something lost about his expression. It made me think again of the unfathomable deep I myself had only just glanced at. Overwhelming as it was I got the sense what I had seen had been only a glimmer but Jake seemed to be completely lost staring into that darkness.

"Hikari!" Jake called out suddenly, he was no longer oblivious to me becoming completely zeroed in on my presence, "What are you doing here I thought I told you to stay out!"

"Jake," I called out to him pleadingly, "I've come to help you. Jake you're lost right now, it's the crystal ball. It's doing things to you." I explained, "Jake you need to give the crystal ball over to me, I can return it to its proper owner."

"Give this to you?" Jake sneered "Give this to _you_?!" he spat before flashing a smile dipped in madness.

I shrunk back slightly as Jake let out a low chuckle, "Please Jake…" I begged growing more unnerved by the minute.

The aura around him grew darker and thicker as he raged, "No way!" He boomed, "I found it, it's MINE! Mine you hear me? MINE!"

His eyes were wild and blood shot, his face was flushed with irrational rage and spittle few from his mouth as he sounded out each spiteful syllable. I'd done it now, he was fuming mad. I glanced fearfully around the room feeling every bit like a mouse cornered by a cat. Seemed asking Jake for the crystal ball had been the wrong decision and in his current state there was no telling what he'd do now that he felt threatened; _no telling what he was capable of… _

Jake took step toward me and an over whelming sense of panic swept through me. _Well Hikari….. _I thought to myself critically, _Now what? _Just as I was about to abandon all hope of reasoning with the mad man before me and make a mad dash for the door I heard a familiar calm voice clearly cut through the air from behind me.

"I knew I felt my crystal ball close by…." The Wizard said absently with a sigh.

I'd never been so happy to hear a voice in my life. I whipped my head around to watch him walk easily into the room and unfaltering stride right over to where Jake was standing. I actually felt myself breathe again as the Wizard placed himself between me and Jake, I hadn't even realized I had been holding my breath. The wizard was an oasis of calm in this maddeningly frantic situation and his presence put me at ease.

Jake however was not nearly so comforted by the new arrival in fact being in such close proximity to the wizard seemed be bringing him physical pain. A sense of mad desperation mixed with horror came over Jake as he struggled to keep the wizard's gaze. "Wizard! I know why you're here," Jake bellowed angrily, "You're here to steal THIS from me!" he shouted thrusting the crystal ball in his hands out in front of him, "I can see your thoughts as well, I know, I know. I can see, I know!"

I watched as the wizard stood calmly silently staring at the now hysterical Jake. It amazed me how unresponsive he could be even at times like this but I kept quiet and just watched. All though the arrival of the wizard had put me out of the danger zone I didn't dare move a muscle or make a sound for fear of bringing attention to myself yet again.

Jake violently clutched the crystal ball back to his chest and turned his back to us as a child might clutching desperately to his prize. He gazed intently at its glowing surface and I watched with no small amount of horror as the aura of darkness thickened and enveloped Jake completely. "I won't give it back!" Jake spat, "Even if it IS yours! It's my…my…it's my precious."

The line would have been cheesy if it didn't show just how far gone Jake really was. He was struggling to form his sentences now as if his mind really was broken and he was desperately trying to clutch to what thoughts he had left struggling to string sentences together in a pathetic attempt to keep hold of what little of him was left. I was afraid, afraid for the wizard, afraid for myself but mostly I was afraid for Jake since he seemed too lost to realize he ought to be.

The wizard was quiet for a long moment while Jake clutched frantically to the cursed object. Finally he opened his mouth to speak and his tone was the same level emotionless way I'd always known it to be as if he were completely unaffected by the terrible scene that was playing out in front of him. "…..Fine….." he said simply, "If you really think you're the one…who deserves it…most."

I felt myself go white with shock, he wasn't really going to let Jake keep that blasted thing?! In the short time since I'd entered the room I'd been watching Jake deteriorate rapidly and I couldn't imagine he'd last much longer if he didn't part with that awful thing. Surly the wizard didn't think Jake was in the right state of mind to make that decision for himself! But Jake seemed to be suddenly struck with some sort of terrible vision that was only seen by him for he went white as a sheet.

"Oh no! Wizard….." Jake sputtered painfully, "I can feel….your thoughts!"

His expression was one of horror mixed with pain and confusion. It was as if something great and terrible was coming over him and I had the feeling no words would be able to describe whatever it was he was seeming just then. I closed my eyes tightly and turned away from the horrible sight of him then suddenly unwilling to watch anymore. I knew though there was no way I could know that Jake was seeing things no mortal mind was made to process and strain I feared was killing him.

I clenched my hands into fists at my sides focusing all my strength and concentration into digging my finger nails into my skin and the pain it caused. I did my best to banish the image of Jake's face from my mind trying to replace it was the earlier happier, normal Jake I had once known; the Jake who seemed so far from us now. I silently thanked the goddess that his wife and daughter had not been here to see him like this.

Then suddenly I heard Jakes voice speak again more clearly this time more coherent than he'd been. "I can feel….your thoughts." He said again but this time there was no traces of pain in his voice and I allowed myself to face the scene before me once more. "I can feel…..How important this is too you." He continued and I noticed all traces of the dark aura had faded, "You…" Jake trailed off absently, "You're its true owner." He said then with conviction handing the crystal ball over to the wizard a look of peace coming over his face as I watched his hands slide off its shiny surface.

The wizard took his crystal ball readily and held it steadily in his hands. I watched closely to see if there were any changes in him as he took it but the wizard's expression remained as stoic as ever. I wondered briefly just what the wizard was to be able to handle such a thing that had just driven an ordinary man to madness.

"I'm sorry," Jake continued, "That thing took a strange hold over me. At first I just wanted to use it to make Colleen happy." He explained blushing slightly his tone hinting that he now knew how foolish that had been. Clearly the crystal ball was no mere toy, "But then I wanted to read everyone's mind and suddenly I found I just couldn't pull myself away." Jakes features took on a haunted expression as if some small part of him might still be lost in the unending deepness. "But when I read your mind," he said looking at the wizard, "I could see that you could handle its power." Jake bristled slightly, "You're the only one who should have that thing." He said firmly, "Besides," he said his expression turning bright for the first time, "I don't need that to make Colleen happy, being surprised is part of love."

"I'm just glad you're ok Jake." I said finally finding the courage to speak after seeing the smile of the usual Jake, "We'll head out now and let you get some rest, I'm sure you could use it."

Jake thanked me and I followed behind the wizard as the two of us made our way for the door. I stared intently at the wizards back trying to process what had just happened as we tiptoed through the hall and front room of the quiet inn. Just what was he? I began to wonder, until now the wizard had seemed like an ordinary person, one with a few quirks but still something entirely human but now… Now I wasn't so sure. The sight of Jake's twisted face flashed into my mind once more; was that what it meant to be a wizard? As I stepped out into the moonlight I gazed up at the shimmering stars that until today I had always found so comforting, would they too reveal a side to them that left me shivering in fear? I wrapped my arms around myself, I'd broken out in chills…..


End file.
